An ongoing journal of the history of the Bolles Family. From the first settler, Joseph Bolles of Wells, Maine in 1640, all past and present facts, thoughts, events, research and items of interest on this and allied families.
Family cookbooks are classic homemade gifts. Make yours extra special
by adding a little family history to the mix and celebrating the people
and places behind the recipes you love. We’ll show you how in 4 simple
steps.
1. Pick a Theme and Plan Your Cookbook
One of the great things about a cookbook is its versatility. You
choose what goes in your cookbook, how long it is and what it looks
like. With so many options, it is helpful to pick a clear theme to guide
your project and keep it focused.
Your cookbook could include recipes for your whole family, or just
the dishes you enjoy in your household. Perhaps your book honors one
specific ancestor or relative. Think of ways that your recipe book can
tell a part of that ancestor’s story.
Handwritten recipe for vegetable soup.
Another creative option is to create a cookbook based on your
family’s heritage or ethnicity. Are there certain ethnic or religious
foods that are important to you? Your recipe book could focus on those
dishes that have a special cultural or religious significance for your
family.
If you don’t have many family recipes, these historic cookbooks can help you get an idea of the types of dishes your ancestors might’ve eaten.
Once you have your theme, it’s time to answer some logistical questions:
How many books will you be making?
How much will it cost?
How will you deliver the final product to everyone?
Having these details decided before you begin will ensure your project doesn’t get out of hand!
2. Gather Your Recipes, Photos and Stories
Now it’s time to gather your recipes! Begin by writing down or making
copies of the recipes you already have. If you’re fortunate enough to
have old, handwritten recipes, scan them to preserve their original look, grease stains and all.
If you’re gathering recipes from other family members, send requests
for recipes, photos and information about the book you’re compiling. Ask
for memories associated with the dish, such as who it came from and
when it was served. Encourage people to get back to you by giving a
deadline or asking them to bring the recipe to a family gathering.
Use these tips to collect, preserve, and share your favorite family recipes for future generations.
Alternatively, you could host a family potluck dinner and invite
family members to bring their favorite dishes (along with the recipes).
Take a picture of each relative along with the dish he or she brought
and ask relatives what they remember eating on special occasions, and
for their memories of a certain dish.
This would also be the time to do a little research on some of the
religious or cultural dishes in your recipe books and traditions
associated with them to ensure the story is preserved for future
generations.
Once you have all the recipes you need, make sure that there are
uniform measurements and directions for each. For older recipes check
out this article on converting old measurements.
3. Design and Create Your Family Cookbook
Now comes the fun part! Choose how you are going to create your book
and how it is going to look, then bring it to life. You can choose to
make your project resemble a classic cookbook, a simple binder, or even a
collection of recipe cards.
A collection of recipe cards, complete with pictures and details.
You can create a simple cookbook with recipes, stories and inserted
photos in Word. Make copies at a copy shop (where you can have it spiral
bound if you want).
Another option is to create your cookbook using a digital photo-book service such as Snapfish,Shutterfly or MyCanvas. Depending on the size and type, books usually start around $20 (search online for coupon codes before placing your order).
If you plan to make a large number of books,consider a self-publisher such as HeritageCookbook.com.
Keep in mind the goal of your project. Is it a gift for a recent grad
or family member? You might consider a space for note-taking. Is your
book honoring a specific ancestor? Consider including a short biography
page at the beginning of you book.
Here are other elements to consider:
Table of contents or index
Chapters or sections
An introduction from you
Blank pages or room for notes
Tip: It’s helpful if the book can lie flat on a kitchen counter, or be propped up for easy reference while cooking.
4. Share, Celebrate and Eat!
Congratulations, your cookbook is done! Celebrate the culmination of
your hard work by hosting a family dinner party or book launch. Now all
that’s left to do is savor your family’s history.
By David A. Fryxell
Crowd
of men outside the Municipal Lodging House, waiting for the doors to
open in January 1914. The 1910 census listed residents who had lost
their jobs as porters, laborers, bakers and a lithographer. Most were
native-born males 30 to 60 years old.
You don’t have to dig too deeply into your family history before
coming up against an ancestor who’s “hiding” in the US census. The
census, conducted every 10 years since 1790
and now widely available through 1940 in electronic form, is Uncle
Sam’s most useful tool for genealogists. But sometimes the answers it
ought to contain about your ancestors stubbornly refuse to be revealed.
It’s possible, of course, that your “missing” ancestor actually got
skipped. Even today, when it seems no one can hide from the government,
the 2010 census didn’t tally an estimated 0.38 percent of the
population. The missing surely were more numerous in decades past, when
enumerators traveled door to door on foot, following ill-defined
boundaries and trekking into remote rural areas. They occasionally
missed houses or found no one at home and no one nearby willing to
hazard a guess about the neighbors. A family might be transient or move
from a not-yet-counted street to one the census taker had already
visited. (Just as some might escape the enumerator’s eye, others got
counted twice. My father shows up in the 1940 census both with his
family in Moline, Ill., and at his newly minted teaching job in Las
Cruces, NM.)
More likely, though, your ancestors are in the census, but hiding in an unexpected place or with a strange name.
Human weakness and imprecision are often to blame: Spelling wasn’t
always our forebears’ strong suit. Ages might be rounded off to the
nearest decade, or fudged to be more flattering. For example, Mary Todd
Lincoln was listed as 28 years old in the 1850 census, but only 35 in
1860 as her husband began campaigning for president. Our families might
have neglected to pass down correct information about where Grandma
lived in 1920, or a transcriber may have misread the enumerator’s
handwriting.
Understanding these common enumeration mistakes and how they affect
your searches in online census records can help you find even the most
elusive ancestors. We’ll go over seven problems that can trip up even
the most intense census search, and show you how to overcome them.
1. Tricky transcription errors
My third-great-grandfather James M. Lowe shows up in indexes of the
1850 census as “Lowd,” which would seem like a simple error to overcome.
But when I first looked for him, his entry refused to be found. I tried
all the usual spelling variations, adding and subtracting search data.
Zip. The problem? The way Ancestry.com searching worked at the time, the site didn’t think Lowd was a possible variation of Lowe (or Low, for that matter).
Even using wildcard characters
was tricky with such a short surname, because Ancestry.com requires
that names contain at least three non-wildcard characters. (Most sites
let you use an asterisk wildcard to replace zero or more characters in a
name, and a question mark to replace a single character.)
And a wildcard search did ultimately find my hidden ancestor: I
searched for Low? and there he was, right in Harris County, Ga., with
the correct family members. This wildcard search retrieved all possible
four-letter hits beginning with Low. I also could have tried Low*, which
would have retrieved variants with any number of characters, from Low
to Lowell to Lowenstein and so on.
If I were hunting for James M. Lowe today, I could search census databases on other sites, such as FamilySearch or MyHeritage.
Sometimes different sources have different transcriptions—and sure
enough, FamilySearch’s 1850 census has him correctly transcribed as
James Lowe.
Another approach to transcription errors and other puzzles is to
search for relatives or neighbors from a city directory or the previous
or subsequent census, then scroll up or down. Your ancestor might be
“hiding” in plain sight on the same page as these folks. In this and
other instances where you’re searching for someone other than your
target ancestor, of course, it’s smart to select someone with a more
unusual name, if possible. I’ve frequently given thanks for names like
Ladoiska, Sophianesba and Camillus in my family tree—and especially my
ancestors’ fondness for names beginning with Z (Zeno, Zillis, Zebulan,
Zeriah, Zilphia …).
2. Unexpected name changes
Our forebears were much more casual about their identities than we
are. People could simply decide to call themselves Jack instead of John,
even on official documents like the census, and then change back again
10 or 20 years later. So, for example, three sons of my ancestor Edward
Uptegrove dropped the first part of their surname and became simply
Groves in the 1810 to 1830 censuses. My collateral relative with the
wonderful name Zebulan M. Pike Clough (also spelled Zebulon) at one
point must have decided his lengthy name was too burdensome and became
just Pike Clough.
Other variations arise because of remarriages. My wife’s ancestor
Alice Hollingworth, married to James Jones, apparently vanished from the
census after his death. Actually, though, she was merely “hiding” as
Alice Jefferson, with a new husband by 1850. More challenging still was
the case of my Swedish great-great-grandmother Mary Eckstrom (her
married name), whom I finally found in the 1880 census “disguised” as
Mary Van Kirkhoon, remarried to a Belgian gentleman. Swedes and Belgians
simply did not mix in 19th century Moline—except in this one case. (But
not for long, I guess: In an 1885 city directory listing, she was back
to Mrs. Eckstrom, noted as “widow.”)
Resolving such variation mysteries usually requires matching up other
facts or family members. Minor variations might be overcome by matching
an individual’s birth year, birthplace and current residence with the
similar parts of the name. More complex instances, like my remarriage
mysteries, can be solved by comparing other members of the household.
Mary Van Kirkhoon had children with the right first names and ages, and
she was listed as born in Sweden—not Belgium—in the right year. If
you’re not certain who the children are, look for a parent’s obituary,
household listings in other census years, and the parents’ names indexed
in children’s vital records.
Online census databases make it easy to search not only for missing
ancestors, but also for others who might be in the same household. Don’t
limit yourself to a “missing” ancestor’s children, as aging parents as
well as siblings often shared a family’s residence.
3. Age discrepancies
Finding missing ancestors or others in their household is easier, of
course, when their ages or birth years are correct in the census. You
might be overlooking somebody simply because you’re forgetting that
enumerators recorded ages as of the date the census was taken. If an
ancestor reported as 25 years old in the 1870 census—when Census Day was
June 1—it stands to reason he was born in 1845. But he also might’ve
been born in the latter part of 1844 and didn’t turn 26 until after
Census Day, 1870. Here’s a list of official census dates. Searching within a range for the birthdate can help find these age-hidden ancestors.
Ages can be crucial when trying to match pre-1850 census records to
families. Censuses in 1850 and later list each individual by name, but
in earlier censuses, only the head of the household was spelled out.
Others in the family were represented merely by tick marks under the
appropriate column for gender and age range. These categories varied by
census. Slaves also were counted in separate columns.
For example, here’s how I matched—more or less—my
fourth-great-grandmother Martha Williams and her family in the 1810
census in Nash County, NC:
two males under age 10: Jack; age 6, Nestor, 9 or 10
two males ages 10 to 15: Solomon, about 13; Nicholas, about 15
one female under 10: Elizabeth, 5
one female age 10 to 15: Nancy, 12
one female age 16 to 25: Frances, 17
one female age 26 to 44: Martha, 32, a widow after her husband died in 1807, named as head of the household
The relatively unusual situation of having a woman listed as head of
the household, plus the neat match of genders and ages, confirmed for me
that this was my Martha Williams, despite her very common name. If you
can’t get a family to match exactly, however, don’t give up and conclude
this can’t be your kin. Age ranges were at least as prone to errors as
subsequent censuses with specific ages.
It helps to make an age chart for your pre-1850 ancestors, or use a
blank form to note what the household should look like. Then search
census records with the head-of-household’s name and the numbers of
people who should fall into each age category. Don’t freak out if not
every person in the household matches a known family member; again,
these could be other relatives or boarders.
More problematic still are ancestors like Mrs. Lincoln, prone to
fudging their ages over the years. My wife has two third-great-aunts,
born as twins, whose relative ages shifted with every census when they
were adults. Both advanced their birth year to seem younger, but Ann did
so more aggressively than sister Mary. By their last census entry—when
they were living together—nine years separated them. Finding such
age-defying ancestors in the census may require ignoring birth years
entirely and focusing on other clues, like birth places and other
relatives, and consulting non-census sources such as city directories. Just don’t assume an ancestor is missing when an otherwise-matching individual has undergone an age “makeover.”
4. Geographic wrong turns
Like dates, places in census records are prone to mistakes and
surprises. Your ancestors may have “changed their minds” over the years
about their own and their parents’ birthplaces. That’s not as odd as it
sounds: If the husband was out in the fields when the census taker
showed up at the door, the wife might not be clear about birthplaces on
his side of the family. Ten years later, the husband answered the door
and made the opposite mistake, while giving his own data correctly.
In other cases, ancestors show up in unexpected places—and likewise
fail to appear where you’re looking for them in the census. My
fourth-great-grandmother Mary Philips, whose married name was Mary
Clough, was in Alabama in 1830 with the rest of my family. Then she
wasn’t. She’d only shown up in 1830 because she was a head of household.
In 1840, however, she was presumably just a tick mark in the household
of one of her children. (With enough patience and determination, I could
probably find her by examining each of those households until I found
an “extra” female age 60 to 70, since she’d be 64.)
In 1850, when I could expect Mary to be listed by name even if not a
head-of-household, she had vanished from Alabama. She finally turned up
in Ouachita County, Ark., of all places, living with a daughter. Later,
Mary would find her way to another unexpected place, Freestone County,
Texas, where a son lived. If I’d stubbornly stuck to Alabama in my
searching, I’d never have found her.
How do you find ancestors when their places of residence are either
erroneous or unexpected? Looking for other household members might help,
but not in the case of my peripatetic fourth-great-grandmother. Here
you need to take advantage of census databases’ search power. Try a
search without places at all. Slowly add places of birth or residence
back in to narrow as necessary. Mary’s 1850 entry did have her North
Carolina birthplace correct, so that helped me separate her from the
unrelated New England Cloughs.
For more recent years and for city- or town-dwelling ancestors, you
might also try using city directories as a census substitute.
Ancestry.com’s one-click search of its database US City Directories, 1822-1995
is a good place to start. Check the Exact +/- option to focus on a
particular time span: Type 1900 and choose +/- 5 years, for example, to
search directories from 1895 to 1905. The resulting occupational
information also can help make sure you have the right person: My
great-grandfather William F. Dickinson, absent from both the 1900 and
1910 censuses in Blount or Lee County, Ala., where I’d expect him to be,
appears in a 1905 directory in Birmingham (which is in Jefferson
County) as an attorney. You even can use a city directory listing to aid
your census search, pointing to where the person should live that year.
5. Untimely deaths
Sometimes an ancestor had the misfortune (for him and for you) of
passing away in a census year. Such deceased individuals may not exactly
be “hiding,” but their passing might deprive you of key decennial data.
Fortunately for genealogists, in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880, the
federal census included questions about persons who had died in the year
immediately preceding the enumeration. Many of the surviving Mortality Schedules are indexed and searchable on Ancestry.com. Data varied from census to census, but in general, the questions covered:
name
age at last birthday
sex
race
marital status
profession, occupation or trade
state, territory or country of birth of person and parents
length of residence in county
month in which person died
disease or cause of death
place where disease contracted (if not at place of death)
name of attending physician
In practice, the definition of “year preceding the enumeration” could
be flexible and might depend upon when the census taker actually got
around to a household. My fourth-great-grandfather Ephraim Brown, for
instance, was missing from the regular 1850 census, the official
enumeration date for which was June 1. But I found him listed in the
mortality schedule, even though he didn’t die until September 1850.
Ancestors whose deaths caused them to miss the census in years after
1880 are destined to remain forever “missing” from those enumerations.
You might, however, be able to find them in some state and territorial
censuses. Not every state or territory took its own censuses, but those
that did typically did so in years ending in 5. The frequency and
timespan of these state headcounts, as well as the details enumerated
and inclusion of mortality data, vary by state. Many can be found online
at sites that have federal censuses, including the free FamilySearch,
as well as at websites for individual state archives.
6. Too many hits
Almost as bad as failing to find an ancestor in the census is finding
too many matches. Your target is likely hiding somewhere among them,
but how do you determine which is the right one? This challenge crops up
most commonly in pre-1850 searches, which lack names of other family
members that could distinguish your John Baldwin from those other John
Baldwins. You also may hit this roadblock in later enumerations with
ancestors who have common names and are at either extreme of the age
spectrum: young singles or elderly widows and widowers, living on their
own or boarding with unrelated folks.
Start by trying to match what data you do have, whether it’s tick
marks for pre-1850 households or birth dates or -places (or those of
parents) for later years. When you still have several apparent matches,
try to determine geographic plausibility and look for relatives (or
future relatives, like a later spouse or father-in-law) on the same or
adjacent pages. The answer may be no more than a best guess, so you’ll
want to note it as such in case you revisit in light of new information.
Noncensus records also can help identify your ancestor. I had two
Abraham Stow possibilities in early North Carolina censuses, for
example, and no more than that name to go on as father of my Joel Stow.
One was in Surry County, the other in Lincoln County, and both were of
plausible age. Then I found a Surry County marriage record for Abraham
Stow Jr. listing Joel Stow as bondsman. I pounced on the Surry County
Abraham Stow Sr. and researched him further to prove the link.
7. Missing or damaged pages
The toughest challenge in census research comes when your ancestors
are hiding on census pages that were damaged, missing or destroyed.
Except for the 1890 census, which was largely destroyed by fire, it’s
hard to know when this might be the root of your mystery. Local
genealogy guides can inform you about census record losses. It can also
be difficult to determine whether the omission occurred on the original
census records or in the microfilmed-then-digitized images and index
you’re using online, which may not be complete or accurate.
(Fortunately, FamilySearch recently added previously missed indexed
names to the 1910 census. Ancestry.com incorporates user-submitted
corrections to its searches.)
In seeking my great-grandfather in the 1900 census in Birmingham, I
came across an entry for “James P*,” born in February 1846 (like my
great-grandfather but alas, not him). A black mark, perhaps from tape,
obliterated his last name and most of the names below it on the page.
James’ real descendants might be able to find him by searching without a
last name, supplying only birth and residence details.
In more extreme cases, significant portions of a federal census
itself may be lost—and all listed ancestors with them. This may apply on
a local or county level (especially for early censuses) and for nearly
the entire 1890 census. In these cases, look for census substitute
databases, which compile other records from the same time period, such
as city directories, state censuses, tax lists and voter lists. You’ll
find census substitute databases at major genealogy websites, such as Ancestry.com’s 1890 Census Substitute database.
Missing or damaged pages? Enumerator error? I might never know why I
still can’t find my great-grandfather in the 1900 and 1910 censuses.
Or—who knows?—I might find him tomorrow using some of these tricks. As
they say on “X Files,” the truth is out there.
You can also use Morse’s site to search the census. Scroll down on
the home page and click US Census (1790-1940). To search all censuses,
click one of the Census Search by Name options (there’s one for
Ancestry.com subscribers and a free one powered by FamilySearch, shown
below). At the top of the resulting page, select the census year from
the dropdown menu. Enter as much information as you know about an
ancestor and see what this nifty form can find. You’ll get options not
available in other searches, such as “starts with” or “sounds like” for
names. If you have a street address where an ancestor might be
hiding, the One-Step site can also help you translate that into the
corresponding enumeration district (ED). Again, make sure to pick the
census you want; the default option is 1940.
Tip: Use city directories to find your ancestor’s
address in the year he’s missing from the census, then browse census
schedules for that area.
From the May/June 2016 issue of Family Tree Magazine.
Scot-Irish genealogy is the process of tracing your American
ancestors across the Atlantic to one of the nine counties of the Irish
province of Ulster.
The general assumption is that everyone who came from Ulster had
ancestors in Scotland. This is not entirely true. Protestants from
Scotland were the majority of settlers in Ulster, but Protestants from
England and France also settled there. And of course, despite the
hardships they faced, many native Irish remained in Ulster, especially
in Counties Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan. Over the course of time,
people changed religions and intermarried, so you may discover that your
ancestors do not fit the standard story line of the Scots-Irish.
One thing that makes genealogy for the Scots-Irish different from
other types is that general direction of the research flow is known:
America – Ireland – Scotland. And if you ancestors did originally come
from Scotland, they probably came from Ayrshire or another lowland
county. While Highland settlement in Ulster was not unknown, it wasn’t
common until the nineteenth century.”
Do you know where to look for your Scots-Irish ancestors? These resources might have the information you’re looking for.
Of course, it’s not just a matter of knowing where to search – having
a thorough understanding of the history of the Ulster Scots will help
guide your research and help you create a plan of attack.
For example, did you know that for much of the eighteenth century,
marriages performed by Presbyterian members were not legal? That means
that a Presbyterian ancestor may not have marriage records, or that
they’ll be held in a different denomination.
A version of this article appeared in the December 2010 issue of Family Tree Magazine.
From Historic Ipswich On the Massachusetts North Shore website (https://historicipswich.org/john-manning-house-36-north-main-st/)
Dr. John Manning married Lucy Bolles (BFA #187), on 27 Nov 1760, in Ipswich. Several generations of Manning's lived in Ipswich and surrounding town in Essex County, MA.
36 North Main Street, the Dr. John Manning house (1769)
36 North Main Street, the John Manning house (1769)
The John Manning House at 36 North Main Street was built in 1769 by
Dr. John Manning (1738-1824). It has one of the first preservation
agreements in Ipswich, created by the Ipswich Heritage Trust and now
administered by the Ipswich Historical Commission.
Manning was a pioneer in the development of a smallpox vaccine. When
he drove his chaise to Boston to bring his sister-in-law back to the
safety of Ipswich on the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill he was allowed
to enter Boston by first agreeing to treat British casualties of the
battle. After returning to Ipswich with his sister-in-law, he spent that
evening collecting medical supplies from Ipswich residents and then
returned to treat casualties from both sides for seven weeks.
Dr. Manning was also an inventor and built an unsuccessful
wind-driven woolen mill on the site of the present Caldwell Block next
to the Choate Bridge. The mill at the Willowdale Dam, funded by his son
Dr. Thomas Manning was more successful.
Dr. Manning was of course a member of the First Church, where his
family occupied a pew assigned to the highest-ranking members of town.
In about the year 1801, attendance at the church was languishing, and it
was about this time that the violin, flute and bass-viol appeared in
service. Thomas Franklin Waters wrote that Dr. Manning “manifested his
displeasure at the worldly innovation by leaving his pew, while the
orchestra played, and danced up and down the broad aisle, much to the
mortification of the elder worshipers, but to the great delight of the
youth and the lighter minded.”
Historic American Buildings Survey Frank O. Branzetti, Photographer, 1940
Historic American Buildings Survey Thomas T. Waterman, Photographer 1936
The Dr. John Manning house, late 20th Century from MACRIS site
Dr.
John Manning built the mill which predated the Caldwell Building at the
corner of Market and South Main Streets. By 1867, the first “woolen
manufactory” erected with such high hopes by Dr. Manning in 1793 was now
the very business-like Coburn Block. The building burned to the ground
in 1869, and the town’s merchants wasted no time in immediately erecting
the present Caldwell Block.
86 JOHN MANNING
Joseph Thomas Richard bap 1738 Nov 12 at Ipswich Mass He studied
medicine under his father’s direction and then commenced practice at the
age of twenty at Newmarket NH. After one year he returned to Ipswich
where he resided and practiced the remainder of his life. As there were
no medical colleges or hospitals in America at that day, Dr. Manning at
the age of thirty three and after some twelve years of active practice
crossed the ocean to perfect his medical education in England.
Returning to this country, 1772 May 8, after a course of six months
training in the hospitals and lecture rooms of London, his practice soon
became extensive. On the 19th of April 1775 the day of the battle of
Lexington he drove to Boston to bring his sister Mrs. McKean to Ipswich.
When near Boston he overtook a British officer severely wounded, to
whom he freely gave the medical attention which he greatly needed. For
this humane act the officer gave Dr. Manning a pass which enabled him to
enter Boston and depart with his sister. He arrived at Ipswich at
night, aroused his family, and when he had collected such articles as he
knew would be needed hastened to the relief of those wounded in the
battle, giving to his suffering countrymen such aid as his skill and
medicine could accomplish. His grandson Joseph Bolles Manning Esq. is
authority for the further statement that when this was done he assisted
the British surgeons in caring for their wounded and by his direction,
both parties of wounded were removed to Cambridge, where he attended six
weeks until they were discharged. This was on his part an early
application of the doctrine, since common to all civilized nations, that
in the presence of those suffering after battle all partisan feeling
should be forgotten. Later in the war he served as surgeon at Newport
RI.
In 1777 he strongly advocated inoculation for the prevention of small
pox which caused so much opposition and hostility that for a time it is
said his life seemed in danger. He was active in business enterprises.
He bought and sold real estate outside of his own county, having
transactions of this kind in Worcester Co Mass, Hillsborough Co NH, and
Cumberland Co Me. In 1788 he with others made proposals to the
Legislature for taking the poor of the Commonwealth which were in the
almshouse at Boston and removing them to Ipswich, where with the
selectman of that town to act as overseers; the projectors of the plan
would supply them with lodging, good wholesome food, medical attendance
etc. for three fourths of the then present expense. A paper was drawn up
by the House to accept the proposal, but shows no sign of having been
acted upon, House Document 2640. Ten years later, however, the doctor
petitioned for the payment of expenses which he had incurred, because by
direction of the selectmen of Ipswich he had during the past year
supported several of the poor of the Commonwealth, proving that his plan
had in some degree been carried into effect.
The Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts for 1790 show that he
petitioned for payment of certain dues from the Commonwealth to enable
and encourage him to carry on a woolen manufactory at Ipswich. The State
agreed to pay from its treasury the interest due him on the State notes
he held in his own name, and so much of the principal as should amount
with the interest to £1,000, he first giving bond that the £1,000 should
be within one year employed in a woolen manfactory in Ipswich. Whether
this official action was satisfactory and was accepted has not been
learned, but the enterprise was consummated. In 1792 the town of Ipswich
granted Dr. Manning land for the erection of the factory. This was
perhaps the first woolen mill in the country. It stood upon the bank of
the river and was run by a windmill. It was a two storied building about
60 x 30 feet and was at the foot of the hill at the northwest corner of
Choate Bridge. The structure now on the site is called Caldwell’s
Block. On the end of the building away from the bridge was a signboard
about 5 x 23 feet with Massachusetts Woolen Manufactory painted upon it,
this being the name by which it was known. Blankets and flannels were
made at the factory which went into operation in 1794, but the
enterprise was not a success and it was closed in 1800. The doctor’s son
Capt. Richard Manning was superintendent of the mill and his pattern
book is now in the possession of Mr. Francis H. Manning. Dr Manning’s
hospitality was widely known. The house he built on High street Ipswich,
still standing, was constructed with a view to indulging this
characteristic. The partitions of the lower story were hung upon hinges
at the ceiling so that they could be raised, thus making one room of the
hall and the rooms on each side.
As an illustration of this hospitable proclivity, his grandson
Richard H. Manning related this incident: “Dr. Manning was riding one
summer afternoon about 1818 toward Hamilton when he met a Company of
Horse known as the Salem Troop. Drawing up before the captain, whom he
saluted as only he could do it, for he was an exceedingly courteous
gentleman stately and venerable withal, he invited the Company to ride
on to his house in Ipswich and take supper with him. The invitation
being accepted, the doctor turned his horse and rode back to Ipswich at
the head of the Troop, which soon drew up in front of the mansion on
Pudding street now High street. This was the first intimation the family
had of the intended feast, and I, a shaver of eight or nine years was
dispatched to all the neighbors for spoons and cooked food to eke out
the entertainment.”
Dr. Manning was elected representative from Ipswich 1781, 82, 84, 87,
89, 92 and 94 or a total of nine years. His skill and experience
rendered him for a long time eminent in the medical profession; all
publications dealing with his county mention this fact. He had his own
opinions upon politics and religion and was fond of power and resolute
in carrying out his purposes. His character was marked by unvarying
courtesy, a broad charity and great kindness of heart. In person he was
tall and slender. His dress sword descended through the family of his
eldest son and was presented about 1890 by his grandson James Manning to
the latter’s nephew Dr. Joseph Manning, and was by Dr. Joseph given to
his own grandson, John Manning 578.
Dr. John Manning married at Ipswich 1760 Nov 27 Lucy, daughter of
Charles and Lucy Kimball Bolles and granddaughter of Joseph and Lucretia
Derby Bolles, b 1742 Apr 5 and d 1817 Aug 23. Dr Manning d 1824 Oct 25
at Ipswich A family record says Oct 24. Felt’s Ipswich says Oct 19.
Children born at Ipswich:
159 JOHN b 1761 Oct 19,
160 LUCY b 1763 Jan 3 d 1791 June 6 at Topsfield She married 1787 Oct 6 Nehemiah Cleveland
161 LUCRETIA b 1765 Mch 23
162 JOSEPH b 1767 Mch 7
163 ELIZABETH b 1769 Sep 26 d unm 1794 June 17 at Gloucester
The Ellis Island website offers full coverage of New York’s era as a
major port of immigration from 1820 to 1957. “These records are going to
open up opportunity for so many people who visit. I can’t wait,” Schalk
says.
The joint project also has placed an index to the records on the free
FamilySearch website. The index links to record images on the Ellis
Island site. On either website, you’ll need a free registration to view
matches to your search results.
The pens at Ellis Island, Registry Room (or Great Hall).
Schalk explains that the 1800s New York passenger records on the Ellis Island website,
and on Ancestry, FamilySearch and elsewhere, are actually customs
lists. The ship’s purser recorded customs list alongside the passenger
lists, and delivered them to US customs agents on arrival.
“These records were kept for tax purposes,” Schalk says of customs lists. They’re full of abbreviated first names (Patk for Patrick), generalized places of origin (such as Hannover,
a historical region, instead of Schapen, a village), and missing
occupations. All can make it difficult to recognize your ancestor’s
listing.
Not to mention the spelling variants, handwriting and indexing errors that are part of any collection of old records.
Here’s an example of a New York customs list from 1853:
Customs lists don’t have column headings on every page. You have to
go back to the first page to see the ship name, arrival date and column
headings:
Tips to Identify Your Immigrant Ancestor on Ships’ Lists
Family stories passed down
might not be true. Your ancestor may have arrived in a different year
and/or port from what you thought. Explore about migration patterns for
people of your ancestor’s nationality or ethnicity, especially those who
settled near your family in the United States.
Research the
immigrant thoroughly in US records to learn as much identifying
information as you can. This also helps you learn when and where she
arrived.
Look
especially for records such as naturalizations, passports and
obituaries. But do keep in mind that your ancestor’s memory may have
been off when these later records were created.
Trouble finding
your ancestor on a passenger list? Search for people he might have
traveled with, such as parents, husband or wife, children, in-laws and
neighbors.
Broaden your searches and use wildcards to allow for
variation in arrival year, name spellings, and travelers’ reported age.
You even can leave out the name and search on other parameters.
Many
immigrants traveled back home (sometimes, more than once) to visit,
retrieve family, or because they never intended to stay in the US. Check
later, more-detailed passenger lists, in case your ancestor followed
this pattern.
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genealogy skills are like a muscle—they need to be used to stay in
tip-top shape! This month-long plan will help you build and improve your
genealogy research skills.
Every year, millions of Americans commit to going to the gym more.
Gym memberships skyrocket, and sweatbands and yoga pants fly off the
shelves.
But even if that goal doesn’t pan out for you—let’s be honest, it
won’t for most people—you can still resolve to improve your “genealogy
fitness.” Just with like your muscles, you need to bulk up your research
skills.
Strengthening your genealogy muscles doesn’t have to be difficult or
tiresome. (After all, you wouldn’t start working out by running a
marathon or bench-pressing 200 pounds.) You can work small “exercises”
in to your daily routine that will make your research more organized,
more accurate and better sourced.
In the words of “Saturday Night Live” bodybuilders Hans and Franz:
“We want to pump—you up!” Whip your genealogy into shape with this
31-day plan.
Day 1: Set Up a Research Log
This is an important first step that will keep you from repeating
research throughout the month—and help you track your progress.
Day 2: Sync Your Desktop Software with an Online Family Tree
Come up with templates for each of the sources you frequently use,
then have them at the ready as you build out your family tree. (You are citing your sources, right?)
Day 4: Clean Your Desk
Sort through any files that have piled up, and clear off any trash or
clutter. You want to be excited to sit down and do your genealogy work,
so make sure your workspace is inviting and easy to navigate. Denise
May Levenick has some tips for organizing your desk like a pro.
Day 5: Break Down a Research Problem
You can tackle even the scariest, most enigmatic research question by
breaking it into small, achievable goals. Take one thorny genealogy
problem and break it down into three to five specific, achievable goals.
For example, if you’re trying to learn more about your
great-great-grandmother, make one of your goals finding her marriage
certificate (to find her maiden name), then her birth certificate (to find her parents’ names).
Day 6: Record All Variations of an Ancestral Surname
Our ancestors didn’t prize consistent spelling as much as we do
today. As such, make a list of all the ways your ancestor’s name may
have been misspelled (and misheard) based on phonetics. This will help
widen your search if you’re struggling to find your ancestors in online
records databases. We’ve got a free Surname Variant Chart that can help.
Day 7: Summarize Your Ancestor’s Life
Write a paragraph that includes everything you know about an
ancestor. Start with the person’s birth, and be sure to include details
that are more difficult to add in a family tree, such as occupation,
family stories or personality traits.
Day 8: Make a Timeline for an Ancestor
Using your paragraph from day 7, plot out your ancestor’s life.
Are there significant gaps? What years or major life events are not
reflected in it? This well help you identify areas of his life that you
still need to research.
Day 9: Trace Your Ancestor in Each Federal US Census During His Lifetime
US censuses
are some of the few records to have been taken at regular intervals.
Use this to your advantage to track your ancestor from birth to death.
Day 10: Look at Other Names in a Census Return
Because census records are organized by address, you can often find
whole families living together. Note who appears in each census—and who
goes missing from one enumeration to the next.
Day 11: Study One of Your Ancestor’s Siblings
Though not your direct-line relatives, your ancestor’s siblings (called “collateral” kin)
had genealogical useful traits in common with your ancestor: names,
hometowns, birth parents and more. Identify a sibling of interest, then
learn all you can about him or her. Learn more about “cluster and collateral” research.
Day 12: Find Your Ancestor in Each City Directory Published in His Lifetime
City directories
can help you better understand your ancestor’s community, as well as
indicate where and with whom your ancestor worked. Study your ancestral
hometown’s history to determine when these documents were created.
Day 13: Determine Which Newspapers Were Published During Your Ancestor’s Time and Place
Libraries contain a wealth of information and services useful to
genealogists. For example, your library might subscribe to a free-to-use
subscription service such as HeritageQuest or Ancestry Library Edition.
Your library may also have collections of local records or city
directories, plus family history books, ebooks or CDs that you can
rent.
Learn about the history of the state or province where your ancestor hailed from. (The free FamilySearch Research Wiki
is an ideal starting place.) Keep an eye out for any mention of special
sets of records to research, or an archive or society to contact. We at
Family Tree have also produced research guides for each US state that you’ll find useful.
Day 17: Google Your Ancestor’s Hometown
What is the town like today? How is it different from when your ancestor lived there? Use the Street View tool at Google Earth to take a virtual walk down Main Street.
Day 18: Discover State and Territory Censuses
Discover state and territory censuses US federal censuses are great,
but they were only taken every 10 years and may have been lost in fire
or flood (e.g., the 1890 census). Fill in the gaps of federal censuses
with information from state- or territory-level enumerations. We’ve got a
list here.
Day 19: Obtain a Particular Kind of Record for All Ancestors Back to a Certain Generation
Obtain a particular kind of record for all ancestors back to a
certain generation. For example, make sure you have marriage
certificates for all of your parents and grandparents.
Day 20: Revisit Your Favorite Website to Check for New Records
Revisit your favorite website to check for new records. These
databases are always adding and updating records, so be on the lookout
for new collections to search (or, if the collection was just
re-indexed, re-search).
Day 21: Search a New Website
Get out of your comfort zone and spend some time on a site you’ve overlooked. Our list of the Best Genealogy Websites list is a good place to start! We’ve also compiled a list of unexpected genealogy websites that you might not have thought to use for family history.
Day 22: Identify a Relative to Interview
Even if you don’t follow through with an interview, consider who
might have the information you need, and what you would like to ask that
person. Browse our list of family interview questions for inspiration!
Day 23: Review Your Privacy Settings
Online family tree services, social media platforms and DNA testing
companies all share various amounts of data with different parties. Take
today to swing through your accounts to make sure you’re only sharing
what you want to be sharing.
Day 27: Examine All DNA Matches Closer Than Third Cousins
Look for familiar names or places. Use the notes section to annotate
whom you believe each match to be. (Matches at the third-cousin level or
higher can be difficult—if not impossible—to trace.)
Day 28: Format the Birth, Marriage and Death Data in Your Family Tree
Format the birth, marriage and death data in your family tree. This
will help you better identify any errors or impossibilities in your
records (e.g., a mother being born after her child).
Day 29: Transfer One Ancestor’s Records from an Online Family Tree
It never hurts to have your own copy of a digitized
record—particularly if you don’t plan on keeping a paid subscription to
an online records database. Download all of one ancestor’s records to
your desktop for safekeeping.
Day 30: Write Down Your Own Information
Birth and marriage dates, places of residence,
education/employment/military service information—anything that your
descendants might find useful. Include copies of records and photos
(with captions!), if possible.
Finding your ancestors for free seems like an impossible task.
Everywhere you turn, subscription-based access seems to be the only way
to gain the family tree information you’re desperately seeking. But
before you take out that second mortgage, take some time to do research
on some of these totally free genealogy websites. Each of them has been
reviewed and selected by our experts, and at some point winning our
annual coveted “Best Websites” award.
This list is by no means exhaustive, nor is it entirely made up of
“genealogy” websites. Instead, we’ve provided links and resources to
sites that will be most valuable to you as a family historian. Browse
the entire list, or jump right to the topic you’re looking for using the
handy table of contents below.
This grab-bag of free genealogy records keeps growing. Click the
Databases tab to search data from Southern states, military records,
small-town newspapers and the Guion Miller Roll index to Cherokee tribal
members. The latter supplements what was already a must-bookmark site
if you have Native American roots.
More than 2,200 online collections (and growing) make this the
internet’s largest home to free genealogy data, with recent updates
spotlighting Italy, South America and US vital records. You can share
and record your finds in family trees and a “Memories Gallery,” and get
research help from the wiki.
Free to your home computer courtesy of your library card via
participating institutions, HeritageQuest is now “powered by” (but not
owned by) Ancestry.com. This partnership has dramatically expanded its
half-dozen collections to a sort of “Ancestry.com lite,” including the
complete US census, military and immigration records, and city
directories. Click Search and scroll all the way to the bottom to unlock
more US records as well as selected foreign databases.
Since its launch in 1996, this modest website has grown into a useful
collection of how-to help and databases. It’s strongest on passenger
records, heritage groups such as Palatines and American Indians, and
less-familiar records, such as those for residents of orphans and
almshouses.
This venerable free site still serves up how-to articles, databases
of surnames and US locations, mailing lists, pedigree files and much
more—making it an oldie but a goodie.
This volunteer site recently celebrated its 20th birthday with a
mobile-friendly update. Its state and county pages and special projects
remain as vibrant as ever. Just found an ancestor who lived in, say,
Stone County, Ark.? There’s a page for that, as for almost every other
place your family may have landed.
Read all about your California kin in this fast-growing collection
that (at last count) contains 199,925 issues comprising more than 2.1
million pages and 17.5 million articles. The University of California,
Riverside project can be searched or browsed by tag, county, date or
title.
Now topping 11.9 million pages from coast to coast, this Library of Congress project digitizes US newspapers from 1789 to 1924 and offers a directory to help you find newspapers in libraries.
One click seeks your ancestors in 175 million-plus items from more
than 3,300 newspaper titles. Elephind searches big collections
(including the aforementioned Chronicling America) as well as small, such as academic archives, and goes overseas to include plenty of Australian papers.
This specialized site will have you perversely wishing all your
ancestors had died in train wrecks, fires, floods, shipwrecks, plane
crashes or other disasters. Search by keyword or browse by type of
disaster, state or province, or year to find transcribed newspaper
accounts of the events.
Though still a work in progress, this website is worth bookmarking
for help in answering these key questions: Are newspapers from my
ancestors’ town online? And if so, where?
Volunteers for this site’s three online transcription projects have
made available 333 million birth, marriage and death records
(1837-1983); 38 million records from parish registers (1500s and later);
and entries on 32 million individuals from census data (1841-1891).
Before you pay to find your UK kin, check here.
Get your British Isles genealogy questions answered in this virtual
reference library of genealogical information about the UK and Ireland
(GENeaology + UK + Ireland = GENUKI). Maps, how-tos, a church database,
FAQs and more will jump-start your research.
Explore your Irish ancestry in this collection that includes 1901 and
1911 census records, census survivals (1821-1851), census search forms
(1841-1851), Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1837), Soldiers’ Wills
(1914-1917), and the Calendars of Wills and Administrations (1858-1922).
The pot of gold here is the free collection of some 373,000 images of
birth, marriage and burial registers from the majority of Catholic
parishes in Ireland and Northern Ireland, dating from the 1700s to about
1880. You can browse them by parish; click on the map at registers.nli.ie to get started.
The fully scanned 1875 census is
the latest addition to this comprehensive collection of Norwegian
enumerations, church records, emigration information, historical
photographs, land and probate records and more. Click the link for
digitized archives to get started.
Free Central and Eastern European Genealogy Websites
Search 889,000 pages relevant to Central and East European family
history here, including historical directories, Holocaust memorials,
military lists and school sources.
Yes, this site from Germany’s Association for Computer Genealogy is in Deutsch, but Google Translate
can open the door to its mailing lists, forum, society pages, digitized
books, gazetteer, WWI casualty database and research aids.
The dozens of databases here include the 500,000 surname and town entries in the JewishGen Family Finder, 6 million names in the Family Tree of the Jewish People, a database of 6,000 Jewish communities, a 54-nation gazetteer, and 2.7 million entries on victims of the Holocaust.
This updated home to 130 million entries about Dutch ancestors puts
civil-registration records at your fingertips, along with population and
church registers and family trees and biographies.
This free online backup service works with GEDCOM files and files
from genealogy software including Personal Ancestral File, Legacy Family
Tree, RootsMagic (version 4 or later), Family Tree Builder, Family Tree
Legends, Ancestral Quest, Reunion for Mac, GenoPro and more. It even
saves previous versions in case you accidentally delete Great-aunt
Mildred’s entire branch of the family.
This digital scrapbook lets you save web pages and genealogy finds on
one device—tablet, PC, Mac, even your phone—and then access them on all
your gadgets.
Build your own family history website with the most popular platform,
complete with thousands of free themes, or host a blog-style site at
the companion wordpress.com.
Launched in 1996, Cyndi’s List remains the go-to resource for
carefully categorized links to genealogy websites—more than 332,000 in
213 categories, last we looked.
The long list of collections here ranges from 2.4 million library
items to specialized collections for California and Portugal. Plus the Wayback Machine can find vanished genealogy sites from the early internet. (Remember Geocities?)
Moving beyond its “Google for genealogy” origins, this site uses sponsor Graphiq’s “semantic technology to deliver deep insights via data-driven articles, visualizations and research tools.”
Clever Steve Morse has figured out how to dive deep into genealogy
databases—notably censuses and passenger records—with flexible search
forms. (Matches in subscription websites require payment to view.)
Not just for posting political rants and pictures of your kids, the
world’s biggest social networking site is also a useful tool for finding
cousins and sharing research finds. All your favorite genealogy
organizations (including Family Tree Magazine) have pages as well.
Sort of like Facebook for images, this online scrapbook/digital
tagboard has proven a valuable tool for family historians, who share
everything from records to old photos.
Winner of the Developer Challenge at FamilySearch’s 2013 RootsTech conference, Treelines takes a narrative approach to online family trees, helping you turn your pedigree charts into ancestral stories.
This shared family tree includes more than 13 million profiles
contributed by more than 400,000 genealogists from around the world.
Don’t let the sharing scare you, though: Modern family histories are
private; as you go back in time, the privacy controls open up.
Though based in Indiana, this library’s online reach extends much
further—reflecting its status as the nation’s second-richest genealogy
library. Special collections focus on Native American, African American,
military and family Bible records.
An offshoot of 101 Best Websites fave WorldCat,
ArchiveGrid searches more than 4 million descriptions of archival
records from 1,000 different institutions. Learn about historical
documents, personal papers, family histories and other materials that
may mention your ancestors. A clickable map makes it easy to find
archives near you.
This University of North Carolina at Greensboro project compiles
sources including extracts from court and legislative petitions, slave
“deeds,” insurance registries and “wanted” ads for escaped slaves. The
focus is North Carolina, but data relate to all slave states.
One click searches more than 16 million digitized items from
libraries, archives and museums, or you can navigate via interactive
timelines and maps. Your searches now include FamilySearch’s growing
free digital historical book collection, thanks to a new agreement.
With more than 2.3 million digitized pages, including more than
225,000 manuscript pages, this online collection focuses on materials
not available elsewhere. Themes include the history of working women, US
immigration, and epidemics and disease.
Log in with credentials from a participating institution such as a
university to get the most out of this digital library’s almost 14
million total volumes and 5 billion pages. But there’s plenty here
accessible to the general public, too.
Though not specifically focused on genealogy, the nation’s library
has plenty to offer online, including the National Union Catalog of
Manuscript Collections, the American Memory collection and its own
comprehensive catalog.
Read all about the genealogical treasures stored at the National
Archives, order military and other records, and browse historical maps
and photos. Access to Archival Databases serves up files ranging from WWII enlistments to passenger lists for millions of German, Irish, Russian and Italian immigrants.
The cool factor is off the charts at this handsome home to more than
700,000 digitized prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, videos and
other items. The site’s maps and atlases alone are worth a visit.
