Trapper, trader, rancher

TL;DR -- Movement to the west started early, hence the conflict with American Indians ensued which resulted in attempts at treaties. One of these attempts was at a meeting near the Little Arkansas River in 1865. The major tribes of the Plains were represented. The foremost negotiator for the U.S. was of New England. Also present was Kit Carson and William S. Bent who had an Indian wife and had spent several years in the west.  Like early treaties, this one did not take. Subsequent treaties resulted in a lessening of land available to the Tribes. 

--

Recently, we wrote of the frontier century that began after the trek of Lewis & Clark and continued until the early 1900s. The early part of the century gave us Jedediah Strong Smith and his peers. They interfaced out west with American Indians and people from New France. In this case, the movement west had been across the middle of the country. A couple decades later, there was more area covered, and we saw settlement taking hold. Some were already old, such as St. Louis MO. Others sprang up along the way and over time. For all of these periods we have identified families to research noting location and routes which included rivers. 

However, we also have looked at the time before the interest of New England changed the west. Turns out that Wikipedia is thinking along the same lines: American Frontier (article was started in 2016). 

This post looks at William S. Bent (1808-1869) who was a trapper, trader, and rancher. He built several posts along the Santa Fe trail. William was born in St. Louis, however his father, Silas Bent (1768-1827) was born in Rutland MA which is in Worcester County. Silas is of the generation too young to be a Patriot but his father was one. We will look at Silas later as he was educated in Wheeling WVA (at the time, VA) and became a surveyor of the Louisiana Territory. As can be seen, Silas shows an interesting part of the migration patterns out of New England where he had a deep pedigree. 

Missouri saw European influence early on but became a State in 1820. The image shows the Santa Fe Trial going across the middle region. William S. Bent built a fort along the northern route of the Trail in southeastern CO in 1833. The southern route of the Trail continued in KS in OK and then NM. It was along this route that Jedediah was killed. 

William was out in CO for several years and had a ranch. He bought land near Kansas City MO in 1858. He married the daughter of Cheyenne leader. There will be a lot more to look at as that whole area boomed over the next decade and one-half. 

In 1865 as the Civil War was dying down, the U.S. government developed a Peace Treaty with the American Indians and organized a signing ceremony. The tribes involved were the Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Kiowa. This meeting took place near current day Wichita KS. 

William Bent was there for the signing of the Little Arkansas Treaty which is named for a tributary of the Arkansas River that originates in CO. William had been involved with the American Indians for several treaties: 1840, 1848, and 1861. There were many more in succeeding years. 

The treaty's text is available via Yale's Avalon Project: Treaty with the Apache, Cheyenne, and Arapaho; October 17, 1865. The Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marker in 1925 to honor the event (more details later). 

We wanted to mention a few of the others who were there representing the U.S. due to their connection with New England, both north and south. As we read of this, we saw a Sanborn name pop up, so that got our interest. 

• John B. Sanborn - born in New Hampshire. John went to Dartmouth and ventured out to Minnesota in 1854. He served with a Minnesota military unit during the Civil War. After that, he got involved with the western frontier. 
  
• Kit Carson - was born in Kentucky to a Patriot of the Revolution and 1812. His family moved out to MO and were friends with Daniel Boone. By 1826, Kit had gone west on the Trail and was all over the west. Even a summary would be too long for now. So, we'll look at him from time to time. 
• William S. Harney - served in the U.S. Army from 1818 to 1863. President Johnson appointed him to the Indian Peace Commission. He was born in Tennessee in 1800, but his father was an officer in the U.S. Army.
• Jesse Henry Leavenworth - born in Danville VT, he was the son of General Henry Leavenworth who was born in New Haven CT. 

 American Indian leaders who were there are: 

• Little Raven (Arapaho)
  
• Black Kettle (Cheyenne) 
• and others

Remarks: Modified: 06/19/2021

06/03/2021 -- Added the TL;DR. 

06/19/2021 -- Very old St. Louis in the State of Missouri. 

US Territory

TL;DR - Military man. Went up the Mississippi to its start. Then, went out to see the Rockies. Found the source for the  Arkansas River. Had a run in with the Spaniards. So, was taken to Mexico. Sent back. The War of 1812 came up, and Zebulon Pike died. Young man. He, of several, helped us map out the western U.S. where the states can be huge.

--

Having been looking at families as they moved west, we have learned a lot with respect to history, genealogy, and life, in general. For one thing, there are people who need to be recognized for their lineage, albeit some of the genealogical bent have this bias (it's the paper that counts, silly). On the other hand, people had lives and left others behind. One consequence of the forever shift is that things get lost, like who was where.

As an aside, we know of Zebulon Pike's life. He wrote of it. After looking at Daniel Boone, we figured that we need to move further west, as Daniel stopped not far west of the Mississippi. Hence this post, as those who went west did it with labor. We'll get there in a continuation of the western movement series that started a few years ago. So, let's stop to look at the US States and some of their attributes.

After a brief pause, though. One thing that stood out in looking at early Massachusetts and New Hampshire is that someone could move, even two counties over, and be forgotten in the sense of not being included in some write up. So, it was understandable when someone went further west. Say, the Mayflower descendant out in the lonely prairie grave - see Bayes post - more coming. In his case, a book on his family starting with the 17th century arrivals just noted that he was out west. In another case, some abolitionist was hanged in Texas (pre-Civil War) for being there. We found this out by digging. Lots and lots of stories to tell; fortunately, the internet will allow a more full fleshing of history through time. So, people will be a common focus; we will set up a proof process for descendants of Thomas and Margaret; however, friends will be allowed, to boot.

So, there was a comment about Boone being known for migration on land. After all, his party went by foot from NC to TN and west out to MO. The old guy (in his 80s) is said to have taken a party out to the Yellowstone area. Pike, on the other hand, was young. He mapped the source of the Mississippi. He did the same for the Arkansas River, poorly equipped in late fall (snow of the Rockies). Then, he was taken down by the Spanish to Mexico and brought back. His travels were after Lewis & Clark and before the Santa Fe trail.

Note: we got on this theme with Jedediah Strong Smith and Judge Thompson of Massachusetts, in part.

Looking at the U.S., all of the larger states are out west. For instance, KS is 81K sq mi. This is mentioned since Col. Higginson went there explicitly to show support for John Brown. Too, it was traversed, in part, by the trails, with almost 6/8ths of the trail in KS (Santa Fe Trail). But, Pike went through the area, too, earlier (The White Man's Foot in Kansas). Lots have been written about Pike.

The largest state is Alaska with over 1/2 million sq mi. Texas is next (it'll be featured due to several connections with the East Coast, including New England). This comparison is not for bragging rights; rather, the amount of effort to go across an area relates to the distance. However, terrain was a larger factor. Drive across WV, sometime, and note the absence of any flat area. Or, what they call flat is not really.

Size of States, U.S.

The tales of the Sante Fe Trail mention that parties, sometimes, took the harder route in order to avoid conflict with the American Indian population. From a commercial view, that makes sense. We will look at that. Usually, the path of lesser resistance was taken. Say, moving from Gardner KS to above St. Joe MO in order to save a few days (the gold in CA was calling); besides, going up the MO river was easier than sloughing out west by land. Even if for a few days. Choices.

Remarks: Modified: 02/27/2021

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

Paper Trails

TL;DR -- The Economist reviewed a book that reported on research using Post Offices as a proxy for studying population and movement. The demo and its code for the project is at GitHub with Harvard providing the data repository. This is an example of a growing trend related to reproducibility through time and across region. We look at maps that show the early start and the frontier century. We will revisit the theme as we dive further into research which will also look at nautical world as well as influences other than New England. 

--

We have followed New England's influence starting with the nautical experiences and then getting into the frontier times in the west. St. Louis will be a center point for the earlier part of the westward movement since it was involved in carving up (see Bent post on surveyor father and his trapper son) the huge pieces that were obtained via the Louisiana Purchase and later acquisitions. But, there was movement inward from the left coast, too, as well as from the south (giving us Texas, the great State) and its spheres. 

So, our research focus will include, then, four centers with Salem in the east (yes, we see Winthrop as a later arrival), St. Louis in the center, San Francisco out on the left coast, and somewhere in TX as a southern point. Perhaps, San Antonio. Too, rather than the esteemed heights of the historian (academic) as the focus, we are following families, especially in regard to the middle not being flyover country. 

The below is motivated by an article in The Economist (How the West was won). So, there is an aura (per usual, Brits, what else?) of judgment that seemed to waft from what the verbiage expressed. Okay, we like the mag, for depth of content and humor. Also, they are talking of a book, same title as the post. Here are some links related to the book and author. 

• Cameron Blevins - teaches United States history and digital humanities. 
  
• About that last, he offers details about his research via GitHub. The data is available from Harvard's Dataverse. 
• His book, Paper Trails, uses Post Office locations as a proxy for the movement. Notice the graphic and its flow through time (from early on to 2000). 
• By State, First Post Offices (USPS.com). 

Now, with respect to GitHub, we have referenced this several times as it pertains to the work of Gardner Research and to the notions of the digital realm (for which we propose truth engineering as a necessity). Our portal (https://TGSOC.org) is a start on the long trek required. Expect the theme to continue. 

Before going further, we want to remind everyone of the Age of Colonialism. The U.S. did not run around the world competing with Europe. Rather, we had our own internal dynamics. The look at the carving of part of the hemisphere will cover that. The nautical? Ah, business on and enabled by the sea. Boston got its Brahmins. The left coast and Texas? We'll punt that to later posts. 

We did snap of Professor Blevin's graphic at dates that are pertinent to our work. We are diving, now, into the situation at the beginning of the wild west, and a little before as we recognize New France and New Spain. We want to go to about the 1850s where the middle was being used as a cultural battleground long before the Civil War. But, the graphic also includes the beginning (1792) and a couple of snaps from the 20th century. 

This page gives details about the analysis using Post Offices. The image below was created from snaps from that page. Note: the application is hosted at GitHub. 

This is only an introductory look. At the top is 1792 when the new country was getting its legs. There is a little dot out west marked by a red arrow (New Orleans? Too early; looks more like TX and too early; so stray dot?). The next row is our current interest which involves the early surveying times (1805) and the time of regular traffic via the trails (1855). The next row is our Frontier Century snap (1811-1921). Why 1811-1921? The snap was after a stop. The years are close enough for what we are doing now. After all, 1811 is one year before 1812's turmoil. 1921 is after both WWI and the Spanish Flu. Lots happened to families between that time. 

We will get more fine-grained later. Lots to discuss there. In the last row is 1990 which is interesting when compared to the 1921 snap. As one watches the graphic, dark regions become light as POs close for any number of reasons. The thing is that the highways become visible. 

Aside, Jedediah Strong Smith gets little respect for mapping out the CA Interstates ;>). He got us aware of the long reach of New England. But, too, he was around a whole lot of other folk that we have looked at and will continue to study. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/17/2021

06/17/2021 -- Added the TL;DR. 

Pace of change

TL;DR -- Before getting into some technical issues, a pause to look at the quick coverage of the interior of the U.S. is in order. In the graphic, the blue are Post Offices (1855 and 1921) as they spread across the country. The red show the railroads (1860s and 1890s). We have looked at the time before technology came about. But, even when it did, there was a natural evolution of ability. In any case, the conflicts of today are nothing new, basically old stuff with nuances related to the current time. So 400 years ago may have been different in a lot of ways, but how close are the people then to what we had 100 years ago? 

--

This post briefly summarizes work that we done over the past few months, much of it looking at the interior of the U.S. We need to get technical, for a while, which will get us back to the issues of content management and more. This has been a periodic occurrence that has left traces (see discussion at our portal - https://TGSoc.org and our technical blog) which follow how things have changed during the past decade and one-half. Lots like to ride the wave (to nowhere). Civilization needs its moments of review in order to stay within sustainable practices. The computer has messed things up. But, also, we have new ways to research and report (that was one motivation for the Web which was based upon DARPA's attempting to have robust communications). We have to keep history in mind, local and global. Too, New England and the Cape Ann crew will continue to be of use to much analysis now and into the future. 

Messy now? Yes, but, we were messy before, too. We have been covering the frontier century, for various reasons. One of these is that we have run across lots of families who were early on the frontier and seemed to have lost their lineage. Of course, there were many newcomers during that century. However, there are others who were here whose families moved into states long before they were organized and so left little in the way of tracks.

We call it the lost generation (or two) which is the ones right after the Revolution. 

So, one might argue the Boones. Daniel's prominence made sure that people paid attention. For every Daniel, there are 100s and 1000s who get little in the way of notice. Yet, these people farmed, built, surveyed, and more. On that latter, the Bent family whose member was at the Treat signing in Kansas got us on that. The father was the organizer; the son was out in the wilds. The treaty didn't hold like many others. So, we'll be looking at that (1865, Little Arkansas Treaty - that's a river out of CO that runs through several states to the Mississippi).  

Along that line, we have pulled some images that bear discussion, especially when we consider the short period of time related to the phenomenon. In this case, it is still the filling in of the interior. We are now thinking of the land being carved up. And, Missouri is a good example being the first one. It's start is in parallel with Maine's. Look at that juxtaposition. As well, the crew coming into Essex County, MA had to get things organized including surveying. Thomas and sons helped with that. John was with the Merrimack crew. In that time, late 1830s, he did learn more than those ones at Harvard. Lots to discuss there. 

Ponder this image which comes from two sources: Paper Trails (on the left); St. Louis, MO to San Francisco, CA (on the right). The left column shows the number of Post Offices at two times (1855 and 1921). The right shows the railroads, similarly (1860s and 1890s).

The times are meant to cover a 1/2 century what was from just before the Civil War of the U.S. to around the WWI timeframe. Got that? Internal conflict was the theme of that earlier turmoil. Actually, is. How are we any different? And the latter? The U.S. on the world stage in the context of trying to resolve conflict over there which was of long running, to boot. 

Getting back to the timing of those looks, on the left, notice the heavy coverage in the east coast with the sparse dots out west. On the right, notice that the railroad may have been somewhat out to the Mississippi in the 1860s but definitely not the west. A mere three decades later, the railroad did go across the county. For the Post Offices, by 1921, they were everywhere that people were. Those huge white areas are uninhabitable. Or, folks there know that they have to go pick up their mail. 

After all, in that top-left situation, mail went west by coach (several ways), the pony express, or by water (a couple of ways). That in itself is an interesting subject that we need to keep the youngsters aware of. 

On the other hand, with respect to the railroads, that 1890s coverage was quite impressive. And, it allowed faster population of the areas. 

About internal conflict, the Civil War was no cessation. Conflict with the American Indian continued for a long time leaving a situation where the reservation mode under the guidance of Washington DC was the reality for tribes. Lots to look at there. 

In short, in one-half of a century, again, the U.S. covered an area that is huge. Folks back east with their notions of wilderness have no idea about the frontier. Genealogists, are you listening? Let's step into modern modes (beyond genetics and microbiology) a little more. 

Remarks: Modified: 06/29/2021

06/29/2021 --  

Four-masted barque rounding Cape Horn

TL;DR -- Captain Johnson filmed his voyage, as a young seaman, rounding Cape Horn in a barque. That was 1928. He narrated the film in 1980. The film has so much to discuss. It's clearly an example of something that could be used to talk sides of several issues. Young people using their muscle and brains? Yes, 'meta' verse as some paragon? Hah. Seafaring has some appeal beyond normal. But, that work of keeping the ship going represents lots and lots of work done prior to now, being done now, and to be done (robots? silly, to the max). Oh yes, phenomenal notions and thoughts of existential aspects are very much to be brought forth. 

--

Of late, we were in a landlubber mode which can be the natural bent of the soldier. Albeit, the U.S. Army once exulted in having more watercraft than the U.S. Navy and more aircraft than the U.S. Air Force. But, we had a good reason for our focus: the Great Interior of the U.S which was carved for over a century. There have been many posts on this theme where we can use Sam Dunn's look as a basis. 

As said, we would get back to the seafaring mode (say whaling, Gardner Jonah) as that was one way of New England. Salem, MA, like other coastal towns, excelled in shipping (John Lowell Gardner, I) and shipbuilding (Shipwrighting, USS Merrimack). Shipping companies had lots of vessels as the article on John Lowell Gardners shows. Some of these were barques which were highly efficient, in speed and capacity. We looked into that a little while researching the owners of the barque Bostonian that wrecked off the coast of Oregon in 1850. It had left Boston the year before, got to San Francisco, ventured over to New Zealand and was going north from San Francisco to deliver supplies to miners. The owner, Henry D. Gardiner was a descendant of George Gardiner of Rhode Island, however his two wives were descendants of Thomas Gardner of Salem. In our research, we look for those associations, including Gardner, Essex County, Massachusetts or New England. Lots of research still to do. 

There have been many written reports on sailing and ventures thereby as well as problems, such as that of the Essex out of Nantucket. But, film/video is recent. As well, many renditions are fictional, made later. Or, they are something similar. 

Today, we found this which is phenomenally apropos for several reasons. The film was of a voyage of a Four Masted Barque rounding Cape Horn (via Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.) that was filmed by a young sailor in 1928. He later narrated the film in 1980. The file starts in the North Sea. The narrator talks about specifics of the work of managing a large vessel such as this. He talks of the physical labor involved. Notice, not complains, describes. This was before hydraulic assists and other modern conveniences. 

As the old guy says, why sign up for such misery? Well, the thrills and the joys of sailing. We could add doing such over a large ocean with sun rises and sets. Plus, no voyage would ever be the same as another. To, the demanding work had to be satisfying; as the narrator said, you did what you had to do to keep the ship healthy.  

If can this wasn't heard: in bad weather, four on and four off. Too, notice no gloves or safety equipment. One learned to be careful. Also, there are several copies of this film in museums. He gave a talk in London to insurance people. One remark that he heard was that dozens of other vessels would not have made it through the voyage. 

The film is so rich of memes (not stupid computer-based thingees, no real life) that we could talk forever, almost, about how this could be used to bridge the real world and that of the pretend, even if it supposedly augments the world of today's pampered lives. 

Remarks: Modified: 01/15/2022

01/15/2022 -- Add links to the Mystic Seaport Museum and a post on Capt. Edmund Gardner, the Gardner Jonah. 

Reworks and recaps

TL;DR -- During our thirteen years of working, we have had a few readjustments. We are at that time, again, and will be organizing the posts and their information content. At the same time, we are now into American History fully having been given a shot in the arm by the COVID constraints. At the core and toward the periphery, and everywhere else, we will see technology's influence growing, regulary. Probably, too, that will be more steady; after the pop of this latest bubble related to AIn't. 

---

This post collects together stories that are American at the core.  We will add to this for a while. Then, each of these deserves some further study and comment. 

• Royal connections --  This comes from the Nutfield Genealogy blog that is about as old as this Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. one. We have been working on applications for D.A.R. for a while which has lead to many stories of historical interest. From this work, we continued exploring our theme "the long reach of New England" in many directions which seems to be endless in scope. This post is about a Spanish Lady (with uncountable titles, almost) who applied for D.A.R. membership through a Scottish connection. 
• Salton Sea -- This huge affair (see article at Wikipedia) in southern CA is well known by visitors and locals. Is it naturally there? This is an answer that was found on Quora with respect to the subject.  

Our first post was on the 25th of September of 2010. We had started to study the family lineage the prior summer (2009). As the winter was amongst us, we started the Wikipedia page, Thomas Gardner (Planter), on the 10th of January of 2010. BTW, one can use "View history" to see the edits through time in detail with regard to the change and the person doing the change. This page needs to be rewritten (see the post, In summary) as does many of the blog posts. Before the blog, we had started the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. website (summer of 2010). Our first issue of Gardner's Beacon was in the spring of 2011. Our first redo was in 2012 (movement from Microsoft's cloud). We will have more recaps on all subjects as we go along. 

As we research Sherborne records and modify the story, we will also identify places where we cannot tell the story without some speculative modes. These will be clear. We will watch to see how others might conjecture. The thing with the internet and the process used by most publishers to verify information, we expect that those things published will be in good order. However, on the other hand, anyone with a creative bent is free to write to their heart's content. The future will be fun, even with technology muddying up the water. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/20/2023

08/20/2023 --

Privileged or not

The WSJ, recently, had a review of an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum; the article was titled "Polemical History Lesson." Copley and Gardiner were mentioned.

John Singleton Copley, born poor but risen high on the strength of prodigious talent, is caught in the net of “Pan-American Privilege” in the next section. His portrait, c. 1772, of New England monarchist Abigail Pickman Gardiner, dressed in “the height of London fashion,” is one of three depictions of “privileged Americans” leading off the display devoted to the Colonial era.

I have run across several who sat for Copley in my work. Abigail was the wife of Dr. Silvester. He was the namesake of Henry D. Gardiner. Henry dropped Silvester from his name due to Silvester's loyalist bent. We ought to show the several sides to any of these stories about all things Gardner.

Let's get the fuller picture.

Silvester and Henry are descendants of George of Rhode Island who was mentioned in both of Dr. Frank's books. This is what their book says about Abigail.

About Abigail

Their book: The Gardiners of Narragansett

This summer we started to re-look at possible relations between the various Gardner families in conjunction with efforts being under taken by David T. Gardner, a descendant of a Philadelphia-based Gardner family.  

Remarks: Modified: 10/11/2016

10/11/2016 -- Henry and Weld Gardner of Thomas of Salem were loyalists.

NEHGS as mentor

I have been reviewing the Spring 2018 issue of NEHGS' American Ancestor and was given a much needed shot in the arm. The topic deals with the upcoming celebrations of the 400th of Mayflower event which are centered around 2020. Frankly, the scope was quite good, and we can look forward to more of this over the next couple of years and beyond.

Can't wait for all of the settlements to have their party: Timeline of settlements (from Weymouth (1622) to Worcester (1673). And, after. Of course, the list is incomplete (Wikipedia requires continual editorial help).

So, why a shot in the arm? Well, I'm in my 10th year of this work which I have done independently, but I already knew research, mathematics, and computing (which gives the particular bent of my posts). Of course, I started with ancestry[.]com but was off of it soon due to a remark by a D.A.R. registrar. Never looked back. Rather than research other options, I started my own format (works for me) and have millions of items to organize. As I have worked applications (a good exercise and test) to lineage groups (including GSMD), I got the chance to hone the material. As well, I did Dr. Frank's line which I have in ahnentafel (sourced) form (his two paternal grandparents - BB Gardner and LF Wilson).

Along that line, I just looked at a genealogy chart handwritten by Dr. Frank in 1907 (thereabouts). His father's line agrees with what I documented. However, I have more. I noticed that some Mayflower people are now mentioning John Billington (see NEHGS, above). I get to bring up Nathaniel Eaton (friend of John Harvard and first head of his school). And, I have a lot of material including a paper written by a member of The Eaton Families Association. The next TGA (print of Vol III and Vol IV) will include an article on this.

Essentially, Dr. Frank did not expand this tree, publicly. I can see why given what I have read out of Harvard. But, the whole story bears significance of some turmoils now. Just as the 200th of the western expansion pre-dated the major conflict twixt the north and the south, the 400th had lots to tell us about the U.S. and what it might be about. But, just in himself, Nathaniel is interesting (holder of several degrees, including M.D. and Ph.D); his Catholic leanings may have played a large part in his treatment, especially that which might be termed propaganda.

I have done the genealogy of enough now to have covered New England and Virginia and its environs. That leads to things that we ought to be doing. We need an effort to publish the first five generations from Thomas and Margaret. I finally got a chance to look at the Silver Books. Too, we need to go back and re-look. David T. Gardner, from a Pennyslvania Gardner family, has looked at how he might relate to Thomas. See King's Slayer Court. This was the first part that was published in TGA Vol. III. This and the next part will be in the print version (before summer 2018). BTW, mentioning propaganda, David has found some interesting Tudor material (interpretation will always an issue - like the ad, what's in your wallet? - how do you see this is not something to leave totally to experts). Thomas is almost a tabla rasa from what I have seen.

Yet, there is a lot that ought to be collected and organized. That is one task; as well, weighing in with a proper view ought to be more easily done when is little negative influence (such as, Endicott hanging Mary - no last name is needed).

So, we can watch the NEGHS over the next couple of years and learn a whole lot.

Too, we can look at the particulars that Thomas and Margaret bring to bear. Has that sort of thing not waited long enough for some attention?

Remarks: Modified: 01/10/2022

12/30/2018 -- The 400ths will be one theme next year. 

01/10/2022 -- Changed the NEHGS image which disappeared. This year, it's Weymouth's turn. 

State Of Missouri, 1821

TL;DR -- While researching we saw a pamphlet from the State of Missouri with respect to their history and to availability of records. The history included several maps at different times which show the carving up of Missouri Territory into counties. By the time that Missouri became a State in 1821 there were only a few counties. Others were defined over several decades. St. Louis hosted a World's Fair in 1904 which was the theme for a Judy Garland movie. 

--

This is a brief post with a few maps which are to show just how quickly things were changing out in the west where we can use St. Louis for a focus for a while. Before jumping ahead, here are a few pointers to related information that pertains to what the first map (below) shows.  

• Northwest Territory -- this was being defined in the early stages of the U.S. as things were being settled. By 1805, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee had been established. 
• New Madrid -- indicates that New Spain was there. Too, the Louisiana Purchase covered a lot of territory; however, notice that the surrounding pieces of New Spain and unclaimed are as large. 
• Trapper, trader, rancher -- we have mentioned several of the trappers who were early out west. William Bent is an example of a family that had already moved. His father, Silas, was involved with the continual surveying necessary during the period shown below by maps by years. 

So, we start with an overview. There were three areas still to be handled in the northwest, name Michigan, Indiana, and Mississippi. These, btw, are east of the Mississippi that sets the eastern border of the Louisiana Territory.  

The next maps are local to the central/right region dealing with the area around St. Louis. We start with a 1804 look with names from New France and New Spain. The culture there of St. Louis is as aged as is Essex County of MA, for example. All of these maps come from a little book titled Missouri's Public Domain: United States Land Sales 1818-1922. We were thumbing through a copy of this today and are happy to find it online. In several other publications, we have seen a history of the area from several sides, such as Missouri or Arkansas or other. Some of these were quite detailed. This is quite direct and oriented toward sales. 

By 1812, what Louisiana brought was under siege by newcomers. By the next year, Arkansas was under consideration as it was being carved out of New Madrid. In 1799, Boone, himself, was in the St Charles area. He was involved in the local area. There is a tale that he went up the Missouri River, as far as Yellowstone which is remarkable for someone in their 70s.

                         1804                    1812                            1813                     

 

1816

In all of those maps (1804 thru 1813), one can see the Missouri River cutting across the top. In the middle two images, it is the top boundary of the St. Louis County which extends from the Mississippi River on the east to the left border. What is there? The next map from 1816 brings in the west and the north. A Howard County picks up the Missouri and extends the northern border above which will be Iowa. 

Then, in 1821, we see the initial look of the State of Missouri. Howard is cut down in size quite severely. Boone gets a county named for him in middle of the state along the Missouri River. 

Anticipating the movement further west, the activities of the Trails which flowed through the Kansas City area will be in Ray County. That is, as we will see, lots of traffic came down the Ohio to the Mississippi and then went north to St. Louis and west on the Missouri. It was at Kansas City where the focus changed from water to the toils of laboring across the landscape. 

All along these ways, we had families seeing something they liked and staying. Or their decision was the result of any number of issues that could have arrived. The net effect is our Frontier Century. 

1821

With a nod to culture, St. Louis hosted a World's Fair in 1904. It's theme was the Louisiana Purchase. We have a lot more to look at with respect to the century and what it entailed. 

In 1944, there was a movie titled Meet me in St. Louis. We can look further for New England references, but one of the stars has plenty. Namely, Judy Garland (Famous Kin). 

Remarks: Modified: 03/17/2025

06/17/2021 -- Add the TL;DR. 

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

Tours, of the real

TL;DR -- We are of the west and have been, for the most part. Though, the long arm of New England is always there. A couple of years ago, we looked inward after considering all of the naval modes that came about in the 400 years of interest. Or, if we were doing land studies, the wilderness was only a few hundred miles away. Lewis & Clark, thanks to Jefferson, opened a huge vista. There had always been those who traipsed the regions, early on with the Native Americans. Then, we had this rolling wave, technologically abetted, that ran over the landscape, carving it into pieces. Or trying to. Our upcoming anniversaries will allow us to relook (again) and to, perhaps, make ourselves and things better. 

--

This year, we ran across a photo of a cemetery. Looked to be New England. Or, any of the northern wooded  areas that abound. It turned out to be in the area of The Catholic Osage Mission which was established in 1830s to serve Native Americans who had been forced out west by President Jackson. This was the early group. Our post looked at the Mission and those involved. Of note was that this was on the KS side of the area, not the MO side (referring to a conflict that ensued three decades later). 

Today, their FB page pointed to a site (Woodbury Historical Tours - link only, no endorsement) which had an image that showed part of the Santa Fe Trail. On visiting the site, we saw an image which shows details of a very interesting trek that is planned for next month. The trek (technically assisted) goes from Kansas City, MO to Sante Fe, NM. In the image, one sees two major rivers. One is the Arkansas; the other is the Cimarron. We spent some time the past couple of years, looking at rivers as a boon and a bane. 

It is great to see this type of offering which we hope will become more prevalent in the future. The U.S. start is coming up (250th). The Frontier Century started a couple hundred years ago. Before then, we had the fur trade drawing people out west. One example is William S. Bent (Trapper, trader, rancher). Pertinent to this graphic (map) is Jedediah Strong Smith who met his demise somewhere in the area depicted by the lower part. 

JSS has a modern following that was organized in the Berkeley, CA area. David Woodbury (Historians discuss the Civil War) lives and works in the Stanford area. He is not leading this tour but has been active in publishing which caught our interest with respect to different attempts over the years. Say, TMM (Dr. Frank) which published some of the western visitors, like Col. T.W. Higginson or Judge F.M. Thompson. Or, even someone of the Sanborn family. 

One of our regular modes is to find New England connections in general followed by determining if there are further links to the specifics of Massachusetts, Essex County or Cape Ann. Woodbury was one of the initial investors and "comoverers" (quoting H.H. Crapo). Of course, a Woodbury is in Ann's lineage through Benjamin Brown Gardner, spouse of Lucy Foster Wilson Gardner which is part of the additional interest. Families moved far and wide over the years.   

Aside: We have done extensive research in the large middle of the country and have barely touched the whole of it. At the same time, given Essex County's shoreline, we have lots and lots of work to do with regard to the navalphiles. Then, there are the other cultures who were here, the various News (Spain, France, Sweden, and others). We like the middle given our landlubber modes. 

There were many trails. Later, before the railroads came in, we had attempts at systems for moving people and goods by coach. One of these was the Butterfield effort which leveraged off some work done by an Ipswicher of the Giddings family. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves. As we really need to fill in lots of holes with regard to those early families that came after Lewis & Clark left and around the time that Boone came in. 

Back to David Woodbury, he wrote a diary starting with the March 2020 inception of the lockdown. Some of his comments are funny, such as the references to the totally unrealistic views of some Zuckerberg - types (did I get that right?). And, these ones (immature lot) gave us the stupid web out of silly valley. For a while, Woodbury worked with Savas Beatie who seems to be out of Iowa. We ran into that state when researching what happened to the North American Review. 

We are regrouping and, so, expect more of these recaps that are motivated by what others are doing to help get the message out about American, its past and why it induces a dream state so readily. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/22/2022

09/22/2022 --  Added "no endorsement" with respect to the tours. We are researching the relationships. 

Gardner's Beacon, Vol. II, No. 4

One goal of the Thomas Gardner Society will be to collect, and hopefully organize, material that references, even if indirectly, the lives and time of Thomas and Margaret and to construct a coherent view for future generations. However sketchy this material might be in the beginning, future research can help flesh out the story. The works of Dr. Frank A. Gardner, and prior work, by others, establish the basis. Gardner's Beacon, and its corresponding blog, has tasks related to supporting this theme. Another approach would be support for scholarly papers.

---

We have our first guest article written by John Goff who is an architect and who has been very active in preservation efforts across New England, principally Salem. He is a Thomas descendant. John provides technical commentary on the Gardner-Pingree house (see earlier post) whose construction represents the amount of wealth that had been attained by the Gardners.

Image from Conant book

---

As we look back, there can be obvious differences of opinion about what information means, especially, if it's scanty. Scholarship would suggest to look at all sides of the issue. There are several examples.

The house built on Cape Ann, called the Governor's Faire House (GFH) by Rev.Higginson, is a good example. Earlier (Thomas' (note comparison to a house in the Pilgrim area) or Margaret's house), we used an image provided in the 1887 book by the Conant family (pg 104). The house had been moved by Endicott from Cape Ann to Salem. That means that many would have seen it and could describe what they saw to an artist.

Photo by John Goff
Salem Preservation, Inc. 

In 1930, Dow, et al, built the Salem Pioneer Village so that people could see how things were 300 years before. We have the 400th look back coming up. The image on the right (photo by John Goff, Salem Preservation, Inc.) shows how Dow conceived the building. It does not match up with what the Conant book said. Of course, any information about dimensions may have been hard to find. Yet, one could imagine that the ship(s) may have carried material for a house, as depicted by Conant. There would not have been enough time, even with tools, for even the house of Dow to be built, given the small size of the crew plus the fact that they had to get themselves settled, fed, and a whole lot of other important things.

What did Dow go on to make his re-creation? John Goff mentions that the GFH towers over the other houses which are mostly either diminutive English timber frame cottages or English wigwams built with bent-sapling frames.

---

See Vol. II, No. 4 of Gardner's Beacon which considers some of the houses that have been associated with the Gardner family over the years.This issue on houses was interesting; our coverage of the topic ought not be thought of as complete, by any means.

References: Conant -- History and genealogy ..., Dow - Every Day Life ..., Fischer - Albion's Seed ..., Stone & Fickett - Every Day Life ...

Remarks:

03/09/2019 -- Added in image to build an index at our portal to truth.

01/25/2013 -- By the way, we're going to document this more thoroughly on Wikipedia - Great House (Cape Ann). We have John Goff's expertise available to assist us. This house was the first of its kind in New England.

10/27/2012 -- See Great House (Cape Ann) on Wikipedia. As Higginson said, it was two-storied with a high-pitched roof. The image from Conant's book, and from the letter by C.M. Endicott, shows three-stories. The house underwent major alterations in 1792 which was before the sketches were done. Unfortunately, no sketch exists from earlier times.

10/24/2012 -- John Goff (Salem's Witch House ..., pg 24) writes: After his arrival downtown in 1628, Endicott ruled that the old Thomas Gardner "Governor's House" from Cape Ann (built about 1623) be dismantled, moved by sea from Cape Ann to Naumkeag and be re-erected in earliest Salem to serve as a new Governor's House here. It stood north of the old shawmut on what is now Washington Street.

09/12/2012 -- It was said that we're not done with houses. Fischer notes, in Albion's Seed, that the lean-to was found in Kent, England in the 17th century, though not many have survived. Despite its usefulness in New England, evidently the 'seed' for this type of house came over with those whose background was from the Kent area.

09/11/2012 -- The Stone & Fickett book has the younger student in mind and provides classroom exercise. Ought something similar be done for later students?

Modified: 03/09/2019

Michigan, 200 years ago

TL; DR -- Dr. Frank's TMM had a regular column on Massachusetts Pioneers to Michigan which we knew about but did not probe deeper. Now, we get a chance as it took longer to get areas east of the Mississippi settled than it did Missouri and Arkansas. So, we will look at both sides of the big river for a bit including a look down south with Louisiana and Texas. Per usual, we relate things to the event of 250 ago after which the developments under study occurred. And, to lessons not learned yet; the context for these change with the times; will we ever learn? 

--

In The Massachusetts Magazine (1908 to 1918), C.A. Flagg, of the Library of Congress and friend of Dr. Frank, wrote of the Massachusetts pioneers to Michigan. We did not really pay attention to this until now. The last post (Practice for carving) mentioned that there were two situations, as we might think, namely east and west of the Mississippi River. Our focus has been on the latter. Now, we have a chance to step back and look at the former. 

One motivator is the event called the Toledo War which was a verbal conflict between different parties for a strip of land that bordered Ohio and Michigan. Michigan State University provides several maps in their paper part of which are in this composite. 

Another motivator is running across a family one of whose ancestors bought land in the Michigan Strip, according to the records of  the Bureau of Land Management which records we used for studying Missouri. As the west was carved, there was paperwork to be done. Too, surveying was a big time business. One early practitioner was New Englander Silas Bent. His son was at several meetings with the American Indians with respect to peace. So, that is a topic to look into, as well.

All of this relates to the long reach of New England, across the interior and the seas. As an aside, in terms of families, the non-logical genealogists have dissed all sorts of families. We will get to that, as it is John's area. Not genealogy. Rather, modeling, problem solving, philosophy of mathematics and science and the related subjects including deep knowledge of computing (all aspects) and that wannabe called AI which has raised so much mania/angst and glee/euphoria through fairy dusting that comes from too much SciFi, fantasy, and sheer unrestrained imagination. 

That is one of the major TGS subjects for research. One might add mental health with a nod to the pair who fled the UK for the US last year. 

In any case, we will pull out the Flagg articles so that they can be used. One family was in the same spot but was, over the years, in Louisiana (lazy mode, we suppose) and then two counties in Iowa. Same goes for the Strip. And, we have not looked yet at the many other States that were populated after the colonies split from the Crown. 

For those being dissed, many died young, like the case for the Mayflower where a stepmother came along and muddied the waters. Then, the father died young, too, leaving his infant (whose mother had died early, too) with the woman who ran off, but her uncles saved the day. Then, a modern mind touting its genealogical expertise (a scientist, to boot) could not rectify the facts. This is too much of a general problem, folks. John has now 10 years experience of bouncing against this mind set. Too, those who look are talking the general problems of computing and knowledge, especially that at the higher relams where people really ought to know better. 

BTW, note that Anderson of NEHGS had everyone thinking of three wives for Thomas. Okay? Look at WikiTree. We now have it back to two (Margaret and Demaris) with some work being done to fill that picture in further. 

Oh yes, Missouri was settled in 1821, somewhat, though it took a while for the counties to shuffle to their modern definition. The Strip was still being contested (conflicted) until 1835. That would have been about the time that Texas was rumbling with respect to north and south, as in, European cultures over here with their pissing contests. We will be stepping down there, to boot. Got to love Texas, people. 

Michener, in his research, noted that the Mexican War was really a training ground for the Civil War. Dr. Frank noted that the Crown trained the U.S.ers in the conflicts with New France and its American Indian allies (so called French-Indian affairs) so that they could rebel. And, we are now approaching the 250th of that. Lucky us. We see that New England's experiences will be needed to keep things straight due to so many opinions based upon things of little to none provenance. We have to correct that over time in order to frame a better story for future generations. 

Remarks: Modified: 12/16/2022

12/16/2022 -- Finally got around to looking at the first steps west which were driven by Ipswich MA. Also, Rutland VT was involved. See Perspective, a necessity. 

HMS Resolute

TL;DR -- Over 400 years, a lot happened. At first, there was the Crown as the dominant factor. At the 250th split, we had two interests, namely the U.S. and the U.K. Of interest was presence in the northern regions. A U.K. attempt failed. Rescue efforts failed leaving a U.K. ship abandoned which was found later by a U.S. whaling crew. The ship was returned to the U.K. Later, Queen Victoria had furniture made from its wood. A desk made from the wood of this ship is in the White House and still in use. Later, the U.S. Army tried to establish a northern site. That failed as did early rescue efforts. Later, another rescue was attempted jointly by the U.S. and the U.K. The lost team was found, after they had spent three years in the remote region. We have lots to look at in that regard. 

--

In our early years, we were trying to match up Thomas Gardner descendants. We still do that but have expanded to include Cape Ann families and Essex County finally getting to New England which has a long arm across the nation since the end of the Revolution. Prior to the events that led up to Lewis & Clark's jaunt, that west was New France's or New Spain's. New England had continual sibling conflicts with the former. Dr. Frank noted that this allowed the colonists to be trained under the auspices of the Crown in order to get their moxie to become independent. 

There might have been the Paris deal of 1783, however conflicts with those ones over there continued. We know of the War of 1812. There were other little frictions mostly involving Canada. When we read about characters in The Revenant arguing about who could be where, it was due to the borders being fluid. The Revenant? Why did this get attention? It's the time of Jedediah Strong Smith who was in the area. Too, those characters were either New England (north and south) or New France. The time was the 1820s. Of course, the mountain man was there until later, such as that Adams character (shown on TV) who was a cousin of John Quincy Adams. If you go west, note the names (mostly New England). 

Except, a pause. The American Indian's experience will feature in our work. 

So, we had the ruffians out west and the elite back east. Was that all? Well, St. Louis comes to fore. Jedediah Strong Smith was there for a bit. Lewis & Clark passed by. It was out of New France and old. A crew came down to there from the Lakes, namely east of Montreal. How? Around Green Bay, they started to travel up [stream along] the Fox River and later did a portage (a minor distance) to the Wisconsin River and then came to the Mississippi which took them south. Their tale says that when they got to where the Arkansas came into the big muddy, the American Indians had New Spain trinkets. So, turn about was the choice. Guess when that was? About the time that Thomas as an old man. 

St. Louis will feature in several themes due to its age and to the roles it plays with the west. At the same time that the mountain men were out west, we had the organizing elements coming into the area. One example is Silas Bent who did surveying for the Louisiana Purchase among other things. His son, William, was a trapper, trader, and rancher. He was at the 1865 Peace Treaty signing along the Little Arkansas River with American Indian leaders and many from New England. 

So, that introduction shows the interplay of time and region. It's a huge subject that can be filtered somewhat by concentrating on families rather than big themes/memes. Partly. An early example was Gen Adolphus Greeley (at the time, a Lt) and Captain (USN) George William Coffin. The former is a descendant of Sarah (Gardner) Balch; the latter is of Richard Gardner and Sarah Shattuck. The latter was of the crew that saved the former after he and his men were stranded in the Artic for three years with little to no equipment. The rescue attempt included U.S. and U.K. ships. 

Imagine that? Greeley's wife got the support for another attempt after there had been several with no success. Greeley's expedition had been to the areas of the Franklin Bay. At the time of that post (2011), we didn't take a further look, so this post is a continuation. 

Recently, we heard of a desk in the White House that came from a ship, the H.M.S. Resolute. It had been abandoned and found by a New Englander. Well, the H.M.S. Resolute was one of the ships used by the group that went to rescue Sir John Franklin. He and his crew had been lost. This has to do with trying to find a Northwest Passage. 

Later, Greeley was there to try to establish a base for the U.S. Army. We are talking the 1840/50s for the Franklin effort and the 1880s for Greeley. 

The ship [left by the Franklin rescue crew] was discovered by a whaling crew out of New London, CT. It had been abandoned. When found, its contents were in a pristine state, and the Captain (Budington) got it prepared to sail home [to CT]. At the time, there was some discussion about what to do [with the ship]. A decision was made to refit the ship and present it to England. The motivation was to show good will as the two countries were having family spats. 

Queen Victoria was pleased. Later, she had the ship decommissioned and broken down. There were three pieces of furniture made with this wood: the desk, a writing table, and a smaller desk.  The first went to the President at the time, Hayes. The Queen kept the writing table and gave the smaller desk to the widow of one of the crew that went to rescue Sir Franklin. 

That smaller desk was later acquired by the New Bedford MA Whaling Museum. 

The gift from Queen Victoria was received in 1880. Our relations improved, and the U.S. got great allies via the U.K. It was not long after this that the U.S. needed help to rescue the Greeley group. 

Remarks: Modified: 09/09/2021

06/03/2021 -- Pushed this to the FB Cover for TGS and used the Greeley|Coffin photo for the Profile. 

09/09/2021 -- Typo changed which was found during a quiet review. 

Trails and tracks

TL;DR -- Trekking on the Santa Fe Trail started in 1821 at St. Louis MO. The traffic grew during the years up to the Civil War. Post the conflict, the railroad made its incursion which ended the majority of the traffic. Some still had this as their only recourse. However, the terminus of the Santa Fe Trail was on another trail that had been in operation since 1598 and was in New Spain that will be a continuing topic in our look at the long reach of New England. Too, going forward lots of effort by conservation groups has saved artifacts from the earlier periods. This focus will continue to be necessary.  

--- 

For awhile, we have been looking at the many commemorations that are in progress or will happen. The Cape Ann crew's arrival will be next up for the 400th. But, we have the 250th to consider, and even more, such as the 200th which is a few generations post the Revolution (250th). 

Last year was the 200th of the first trek by the eastern culture from St. Louis MO to Santa Fe NM along what became the popular trail. The trail went from the U.S., which had grown post Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana Territory, to New Spain.  

To quote the Santa Fe Trail Association: "In 1821, the Santa Fe Trail became America's first great international commercial highway, and for nearly sixty years thereafter was one of the nation's great routes of adventure and western expansion." This association formed a few decades ago and has collected an astounding mixture of technology with which to tell the story of the times and the people who were involved. 

In terms of the later, they have been nominations for a Hall of Fame. On our review of the list, today, we saw many familiar names, some of whom are well-known characters of the American West, such as Kit Carson, Zebulon Pike, and more. The Bent family and others have been mentioned in this blog in the context of the long reach of New England. 

Also, the Association publishes a newsletter which is available online: Wagon Tracks (online list of issues). They have published since 1986. The latest issue (Wagon Tracks, Aug 2022) included an article on measuring distance traveled which looked at one invented by Ben Franklin. This article is an example of a technology focus which we will keep to the fore. In this case, miles were the enemy more so than others that are known, such as weather. We have looked at rivers and other waters as a means for travel as well as being a barrier.  

May 2021 issue of
Wagon Tracks

The image comes from an issue from 2021 (Wagon Tracks, May 2021). 

Another source for information is the Kansas Historical Society whose state is crossed diagonally by the trial. We have referenced this source before; an example was our earlier look at Col. Thomas W. Higginson who was from New England and was out in Kansas supporting abolitionism and John Brown.  

There are many persons to look at. Right now, let's consider Isaac Bowen and his wife Katie. He was in the military and brought his wife with him as he did his duties in several locations. She kept a diary and wrote to her mother on a regular basis. This is the KSH Overview of Santa Fe Trail Diaries - Katie Bowen. In 1996, the KHS published the diaries which is available for public reading: A Faithful Account of Everything. 

Their first visit out west was pre-Civil War and about the time of Col. Higginson. Post the conflict, there was another dynamic related to technology, the railroad. The National Park Service provides a timeline from 1866-1873 which is interactive and provide information by time and place with respect to the trail. As the railroad came in, people road the train to the endpoint of its rails and then continued in the mode of laborious travel. 

Unto this point, we have looked at New England and flow from east to west toward the southwest. We will be looking further at the northern route, too, as we take a deeper look at Oregon. Even up there, we will be considering New Spain as the extent of the U.S. was not the west coast until later. 

The Santa Fe Trail ended at a terminus of Camino Real in New Mexico whose existence needs more attention since it gets us more aware of European activity in Texas and points west. The trail used by Butterfield and others ran along those southern routes that were pioneered by New Spain and before them, the American Indians. The Camino Real is traversed today in a north-south direction from El Paso TX to Albuquerque NM. 

Just like we can see wagon wheel ruts today along the route of the Santa Fe Trail in areas where development has not blotted out the past, the same is true for those earlier travelers along the Spanish trails. An example can be see at Fort Selden with tracks along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro still visible.  

Our interest is primarily New England but with scope large enough to cover the prior periods thoroughly. Our southern border, from TX to CA, has a lot of history still to be told, where generalization does not trump truth.  

The southern trail ran from 1820s to the 1880s. Putting this into the context of generations, that was post Jefferson's purchase and during the start of the push to the west where we had a century of frontier experiences in many places with results such as lost generations. 

Remarks: Modified: 11/12/2022

11/12/2022 --  We need to add New France into the triad in order to know how the U .S. is a phenomenal experiment in the experience of being, inner and outer. In other words, our focus will be on the long reach of New England but with a context filled in as only the internet will allow. 

Thomas' house

Firstly, we have no photo of the house. The attached drawing has appeared in several publications. We'll run down its source.

The house was put together by material brought over by the Cape Ann party. With such a small crew, there would have been room for a lot of material on the boat.

We might say that this is the house that Thomas built. Evidently, the building job was completed in 1624. Possibly, that would have allowed some shelter for their first winter. Who lived in the house?

One researcher suggested that the overseers used the house. Tilly didn't have a family. Did other families share the warmer space over that first winter?

---

We need to pull together all of the stories that have been told over the years.

---

Of course, we can say this is the house that Roger Conant took over with his coming into leadership at Cape Ann, in 1625, after his sojourn in Plymouth and Nantasket.

Too, we can say that this is the house that John Endicott had taken over to Salem for his use. See Higginson's description of Salem including the 'fair house' for the governor.

---

Obviously, it was the first 3-story house in New England, perhaps even in the eastern U.S. Before saying that, we would have to look at what the Spanish did in Florida. Jamestown put more into their fort than the houses.

---

Of course, what did the other houses that use locally fabricated material look like? And, to what did Thomas and Margaret move when Conant 'confiscated' the house?

We can surmise the construction style by comparing the Thomas house with the one (shown below) of George Soule (a re-creation) which illustrates both the material and the construction technique.

A little later, there would have been houses like we see with Balch (Beverly) and Whipple (Ipswich).

---

By 1626, the crew was on the move to what became Salem. Did they leave anyone behind in Cape Ann?

The house was not moved until later; was it occupied during that time? We know its location in Salem after the move. What eventually became of the house?

---

Finally, let's look at some of the economic realities, that will be addressed more fully, here and elsewhere, until we get the real story out there about Thomas and his kind (the real contributors).

• The crew came into the area in the spring. Given that planting requires preparation, was there really enough time to do anything (even if there were good ground) that first year beyond sustenance? Hint: did not the group sustain itself? We did not hear of food problems of a major sort until the mass influx later that overwhelmed the supply.

• The house took some of the effort from the crew. Even if all of the material was there, construction takes time, energy, and knowledge. Did this diversion impact fishing efforts, to boot? Again, the sustenance issue comes to fore.

• I have said elsewhere that 'capital' was asking for its profit before giving enough time to the planters. Given what we know now about start up costs, were they not underestimated for this effort (or was the presence of the Church mindset necessarily associated with over-optimistic views -- of course, selling one's nephew down the river seemed to fit well that Church-obsessed mind)? One can also imagine all of the logistical nightmares? Just because this group was better prepared than their neighbors to the south did not lessen the difficulties that those who came over faced.

• Asking for unreasonable profits still exists today (why else the impetus behind globalization -- and leaning, that is, push costs to your suppliers while not listening to their pangs as you squeeze out their blood); at this time, it would have been worse due to the nature of that aristocratic bent that had God's approval (Church, again, supposedly).

• Of course, we know that Roger was no more capable than Thomas. How did those two relate (their offspring married, we'll get into that)? It is interesting that Roger, and his Old Planters, went off to what is now Beverly. Thomas and Margaret were still very much part of Salem (we'll put out, soon, a post on their 1641 location).

• As said before, Thomas' offspring are strong evidence for him and Margaret. We'll detail each more fully. Too, he was referenced as 'Mr' and performed a whole lot of civic duty. Some have gone on about Roger's grace as he yielded to John (the Endicott, of course) for the greater good. Thomas, too, was graceful, in many more ways (we'll have to tell this tale -- essentially stayed well enough under the radar for all of his offspring to become effective adults).

That these economics considerations are pertinent in today's world seems to increase their potential interest.

Remarks:

03/19/2022 -- Nice to see research on the family of John Tilly. NEHGR, Winter, 2022 has an article on John and his family by Clifford L. Stott. The title is "Rev. William Tilley of Broadwindsor, Dorset, and His Sons in New England: John, Nathaniel, and William." Identifies his child and more. 

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.  

01/25/2013 -- By the way, we're going to document this more thoroughly on Wikipedia - Great House (Cape Ann). We have John Goff's expertise available to assist us. This house was the first of its kind in New England.

11/27/2012 -- Let's itemize what we know, re-iterate some basics, and the proceed constructively.

10/28/2012 -- September issue had a theme of houses.

10/24/2012 -- John Goff (Salem's Witch House ..., pg 24) writes: After his arrival downtown in 1628, Endicott ruled that the old Thomas Gardner "Governor's House" from Cape Ann (built about 1623) be dismantled, moved by sea from Cape Ann to Naumkeag and be re-erected in earliest Salem to serve as a new Governor's House here. It stood north of the old shawmut on what is now Washington Street.

09/13/2012 -- About Margaret. We'll honor her as the ancestor, with Thomas, of the Gardner family.

05/01/2012 -- There will be a 'house' category, soon. Too, house is mentioned in the Maypole post.

12/17/2011 -- Tim Lambert's A World History Encyclopedia will be used much in this blog and in related material. Here is his description of colonial homes. By the way, we'll look at this, too. In Connecticut, where the cast offs (kidding) from Winthrop's world went, in part, they started to build big houses early. As in, the prototype for the American Mansion (and the McMansions) was worked right there south of Massachusetts. What was different? Multiple fireplaces, many rooms, large square feet, multiple cooking areas, servant quarters, and so forth.

12/02/2011 -- According to Felt, in the Annals of Salem, Endicott purchased, when he arrive, the house and have it moved from Cape Ann. Felt writes "It was then two stories high. Some of the remains of it are said to be still contained in the Old Tavern, at the corner of Court and Church Streets." Felt also mentions the reference to the house made by Higginson ("we found a faire house newly built for the Governor") when he arrived in Salem.

10/13/2011 -- Er, Margaret's house.

08/21/2011 -- Going through White's Plea may take some time. See Remarks 08/21/2o11.

08/16/2011 -- We will be using the Planters' Plea (from White) to get some better sense of what happened in that early period. Only Endicott is mentioned by name.

Modified: 03/19/2022