52 Weeks of Online American Digital Archives and Databases: Massachusetts

This is the 22nd post in a weekly series of Online American Digital Archives and Databases found for free at state, county, municipal, college and university history, library, and archive websites, as well as public and private library and museum sites, and historical and genealogical society sites.

3DFlags.com

Digital Commonwealth - Massachusetts Collections Online - http://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/ - "a Web portal and fee-based repository service for online cultural heritage materials held by Massachusetts libraries, museums, historical societies, and archives". Includes dissertations, slides, images, postcards, photographs, theses, case studies, oral histories, reports, histories, and more.

Digital Treasures - http://dlib.cwmars.org/index.php - "a cooperative digital library project conceived and designed by the Central/Western Massachusetts Resource Sharing library network and the Central and Western Massachusetts Regional Library Systems"

Massachusetts Archives - http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/SearchWelcome.html - Collection Database (1629-1799); Index to Passenger Manifests (1848-1891); and Index to Vital Records (1841-1910)

Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners Digital Collections - http://mblc.state.ma.us/books/digital/index.php - links to 22 institutions' digital collections (libraries, universities, and historical societies); the site also contains a super search engine of these institutions' manuscripts, archives, and special collections

Massachusetts Historical Society: Collections Online - http://www.masshist.org/online/ - correspondence and diaries of John and Abigail Adams, and John Quincy Adams; Thomas Jefferson documents; Coming of the American Revolution; Antislavery Images, African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts; Maps of Massachusetts and the French and Indian War; Battle of Bunker Hill; Abraham Lincoln selections; Native American photographs; Atkins Family in Cuba (sugar plantation photos); and more

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Archives and Special Collections - http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/mithistory/index.html - online histories and exhibits

Memorial Hall Museum Online - American Centuries - http://www.memorialhall.mass.edu/home.html - a great way to "explore American History with hands-on activities, exhibits, lessons, historic documents and artifacts." Do you have children in your life that you would like to get interested in history and genealogy from New England? This site is the place to start! For researchers, check out the "How to Read Old Manuscripts" tutorial, the oral history collection, or the Civil War Newspaper Index.

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Amherst College Digital Collections - https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/holdings/electexts - The Jerry Cohen '63 Papers ("legal records kept by Cohen during his 14 years as General Counsel of the United Farm Workers of America and personal attorney of César Chávez"); Coeducation Collection ("chronologies, articles, newspaper clippings, and committee reports relating to coeducation at Amherst College and its subsequent anniversaries"); A Glance at Amherst Athletics, 1935; Annual Catalogues, 1822-1900; College Songs, 1926

Babson College Archives and Special Collections - Historical Documents - http://www3.babson.edu/Archives/historical_documents.cfm - various documents, handbooks, yearbooks, and other ephemera documenting the history of the college

Boston College University Libraries Digital Collections - http://www.bc.edu/libraries/collections/collinfo/digitalcollections.html - highlights include the Becker Collection (drawings "depicting numerous aspects of nineteenth-century American culture including the Civil War, the construction of the railroads, the Chinese in the West, and the Chicago fire"); Brooker Collection ("2,500 legal documents and manuscripts focused primarily on Boston and the New England area and spanning two centuries"); Histories of Boston College; Sacred Heart Review (1888-1918); and the Thomas "Tip" P. O'Neill, Jr. Photographs

Brandeis University - Farber University Archives and Special Collections Department - Digital Collections - http://lts.brandeis.edu/research/archives-speccoll/digital/index.html - lithographs, rare books, Van Vechten Portrait Collection, Spanish Civil War Posters, and WWI and WWII Propaganda Posters

College of the Holy Cross Archives and Special Collections - http://www.holycross.edu/departments/library/website/archives/index.html - from this link one can access the collections of postcards, photos, college catalogs, the Hiatt Holocaust Collection, and archives of the New England Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits)

Five Colleges Archives and Manuscript Collections - http://asteria.fivecolleges.edu/index.html - links to archives and special collections of Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Harvard Business School Baker Library Historical Collections - http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/historicalresearchguides/index.html - photos, business archives, trade cards, documents recording the history of money and business, as well as Harvard Business School

Harvard Divinity School - Andover-Harvard Theological Library Digital Collections - http://www.hds.harvard.edu/library/collections/digital/index.html - diverse and interesting collections include Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics; Holocaust Rescue and Relief: Digitized Records of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee; Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930 (digitized books on immigration, including Italian and Swedish migrant groups); New Testament and Archaeological Slides; Postcards of Unitarian and Universalist Church Buildings; and Thanksgiving Day Sermons

Harvard University Archives Online Resources - http://hul.harvard.edu/huarc/resources.shtml - Harvard/Radcliffe Annual Reports; Historical Reference Shelf; Harvard Presidents, History, and Traditions

Harvard University Library Digital Projects - http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/digproj/projlist.html - photo, art and scientific collections with emphasis on China, Tibet, and other Asian countries; 19th Century American Trade Cards; historical slides with emphasis on teaching and architecture; Harvard Medical School historical images (photos, negatives, drawings, and engravings); Legal Portrait Collection (images of 4000 lawyers, jurists and legal thinkers from Middle Ages to late 20th century); and much, much more

Harvard University Library Open Collections Program - http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ - some overlap with the Andover-Harvard Theological Library Digital Collections (above) - includes the Islamic Heritage Project; Expeditions and Discoveries: Sponsored Exploration and Scientific Discovery in the Modern Age; Contagion: Historical Views of Diseases and Epidemics; Immigration to the United States, 1789-1930; and Women Working, 1800-1930

Mount Holyoke College Digital Collections - http://www.mtholyoke.edu/archives/15024.shtml - coeducation subject files; catalogs, registers, and directories; various private papers

Northeastern University Libraries Digital Collections - http://digitalcollections.lib.neu.edu/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe?site=localhost&a=p&p=about&c=wasminiinte&l=en&w=utf-8 - Freedom House Photographs (documenting Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1950-1975); University Course Catalogs; University Histories (1898-1996); University Photographs (1902-present); Yearbooks (1917-2007)

Smith College Libraries - College Archives - http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/archives/collections.htm - links to image galleries for each of the collection groups are provided: Administrative Records, Biographical Records, Academic Life, Student Life, and Buildings and Grounds.

Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives - http://dca.tufts.edu/ - African-American Remembrance Project, Edward Murrow papers, P.T. Barnum collection, Lost Theaters of Somerville, and much more. Use the Browse tab in the left-hand menu to see full list.

UMarmot (University of Massachusetts Amherst) Digital Collections - http://www.library.umass.edu/spcoll/umarmot/?cat=245 - Agriculture in New England; Antislavery Collection; W. E. B. Du Bois Papers; Green Mountain Post and New Babylon Times; Massachusetts State College Glee Club; Natural Farmer; Northampton State Hospital; and much more

Univesity of Massachusetts Boston - Joseph P. Healy Library Digital Collections - http://www.lib.umb.edu/node/2929 - commencement programs, yearbooks, Eagle Forward (newspaper of he 24th Infantry Regiment, Korea), Thompson's Island Photograph Collection, and Vietnam: a Television History Collection: WGBH Open Vault.

University of Massachusetts Center for Lowell History  - http://library.uml.edu/clh/index.Html - Digital Photographs include photos and postcards, history (with a focus on waterpower and mills), maps, essays, oral history; Special Collections include photos, sheriff's records, Boston and Maine Railroad Historical Society materials, photos, negatives, political cartoons, cemetery projects, church records, DAR membership records, orphanage and school records, vital records indexes from newspapers, almshouse records, to name just a few; the Genealogy Collection includes the Boston Public Library Obituary Database (see below), city atlases and maps, city directories, Civil War soldiers and sailors, census street guides and records.

Wellesley College Archives Image Gallery - http://insight.wellesley.edu:8180/luna/servlet

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Andover Historical Society - http://www.andoverhistorical.org/ - includes a historic photo slide show; a subject matter index; newsletter index of articles, subjects, and authors; and online finding aids for the manuscript collections

Billerica Public Library Local History - http://www.billericalibrary.org/localhistory/genealogy/genealogy.htm - history, vital records indexes (1896-1940), local cemetery transcriptions, war memorials, photos, maps, and local points of interest

Boston Athenaeum Online Collections - http://bostonathenaeum.org/node/43 - prominent collections feature the Boston African Americana Collection and Boston African Americans, 1820-1863. Also included are sheet music images, Taste of the Month, the Alexander Parris Digital Project (architecture), and the Boston Athenaeum Theater Collection

Boston Public Library Obituary Database - http://www.bpl.org/catalogs/interpro/bpl_search/obits.htm - an index of obits that appeared in the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald; dates include 1971-4 and 1983-2002

The Bostonian Society - http://www.bostonhistory.org/ - while this site does not have archives or databases, it does have interesting facts about Boston history, as well as virtual exhibits. Historical Markers (which are actually images of historic buildings) can be found under Education.

Brookline Public Library Collections - http://www.brooklinelibrary.org/what/ - historic photographs, newspaper indexes (obits, proceedings, newspapers and magazines)

Chelmsford Historical Society Archives Exhibits - http://www.chelmhist.org/archives.htm - by clicking on any of the collection titles (Documents, Glass Plate Negatives, Library, Objects, Photo Prints, or Postcards) you can then view a slide show of images of these collections. Also included in the exhibits are more photo prints, oral history interviews (which can be heard on MP3 files), local history, and some genealogy links.

Children's Hospital Boston Polio Photo Gallery - http://www.childrenshospital.org/research/polio_gallery/ - the Children's Hospital Boston has nice archival and manuscript collections (view list here), but they are all offline, with the exception of the polio photo gallery. If you had an ancestor or relative be treated at this hospital, or you are doing research on medical treatment in the early 20th century, you'll want to check out this gallery.

City of Boston Archives - http://www.cityofboston.gov/archivesandrecords/default.asp - there are no online archives or databases at this site; however, if Boston is an ancestral location, you'll want to bookmark the link to have access to the finding aids and guide to the archival records, as well as a list of what genealogical information is available on Boston residents.

City of Boston Historic Headstones Database - http://www.cityofboston.gov/parks/hbgi/search.asp - "...based on surveys conducted in the mid-1980s by staff and volunteers of the Historic Burying Grounds Initiative. The surveys recorded all legible grave markers at that time." Includes 18 cemeteries.

City of Gloucester Archives - http://www.ci.gloucester.ma.us/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=3&MMN_position=2:2 - from this page you can access cemetery records index for Magnolia Point and Sumner Street Cemeteries and a vital records index (births, 1850-1873; marriages, 1849-1869; deaths, 1838-1883). Use the link list in the left-hand menu.

Concord Free Public Library Special Collections - http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/collections.html - access online exhibits, the Thoreau Surveys, Historic Buildings website, genealogy, gravemarker data, history, oral history, and much more

Congregational Christian Historical Society Library Digital Resources - http://www.14beacon.org/ - necrology database of clergy and missionary obituaries, periodical publications (yearbooks, annual meeting minutes, article index), books and historical collections, and "Instant History" podcasts, YouTube channel and more

Digital Amherst - http://www.digitalamherst.org/ - images, multimedia, and documents reflecting the history, culture, and creativity of Amherst, Massachusetts

Essex Historical Society - http://www.essexhistory.org/ - history, photo archives

Historic New England Online Exhibitions and Collections Highlights - http://www.historicnewengland.org/collections-archives-exhibitions/online-exhibitions - history, images, and databases include Wallpaper; New England in the Photographs of Verner Reed, 1950-1972; Jewelry; From Dairy to Doorstep; Lost Gardens; Newbury Furniture; and the Preservation Movement Then and Now

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Archives - http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/ - audio and video files, oral history project (transcriptions of oral interviews), images

Lucius Beebe Memorial Library - http://www.wakefieldlibrary.org/ - public library in Wakefield, Massachusetts; check out the last tab in the top menu, "About Wakefield," to access historic images of photos and postcards, history, "Wakipedia," and a death index (1873-5; 1913-2009)

Lynn Museum and Historical Society - Vintage Postcards of Lynn Collection - http://www.lynnmuseum.org/exhibits_collections/vintage_postcards_of_lynn/lynn_museum_&_h_s.html

Marblehead Museum - http://www.marbleheadmuseum.org/ - archived documents, video of Civil War history, images; however, site is annoying in that every link opens in a new tab

Memorial Hall Library - http://www.mhl.org/resources/guides/genealogy.htm - public library in Andover, Massachusetts: Directories; Records of Death and Interment of Andover Soliders and Sailors; Abbott Genealogies; Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War; Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War; Immigration/Passenger Lists; Maps; Andover High School yearbooks 1916-present

Middleborough Public Library Digital Library - http://www.midlib.org/dlib/main.htm - Middleborough Gazette Index (1852-1935), photos, vital records index (1649-1945)

Nantucket Historical Association Research Library and Archives - http://www.nha.org/library/index.html - genealogy, manuscripts, photos, oral history, Sanborn maps, digital exhibitions; check Online Databases for the cemetery inscription project

National Heritage Museum - http://www.monh.org/ - "an American history museum founded and supported by 32° Scottish Rite Freemasons in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction." The virtual museum includes an online collection, Masonic history resources portal, virtual exhibits, and blogs.

New Bedford Whaling Museum Online Collections - http://www.whalingmuseum.org/search/index.html - search object collections, photo albums, or logbooks. Use the header menu to check out exhibitions, oral histories, and other areas of interest.

NOBLE (North of Boston Library Exchange) Digital Heritage - http://heritage.noblenet.org/ - digital collections of 10 public and academic libraries 

PeabodyMassArchives - http://www.peabodymassarchives.com/ - a collaborative effort between the City of Peabody, the Peabody Institute Library, the George Peabody House, and the Peabody Historical Society, this site features images of photos and newspapers, as well as 1855-1880 indexes of births, marriages, and deaths; other exhibits include South Danvers Ladies Soldiers’ Aid Society correspondence and newsclippings from the Peabody Paragraphs.

Plymouth Colony Archive Project - http://www.histarch.uiuc.edu/plymouth/ - if you have early Plymouth ancestors (and not necessarily just Mayflower ones), you'll want to check this site of educational and informational materials pertaining to early Plymouth history. Included are probates, wills, biographies, architectural forms, court records, laws and 17th century texts, a glossary, articles, research papers, maps and plans and more.

Southborough Historical Society - http://www.southboroughhistory.org/Southborough_History.htm - vital records index (1727-1849), genealogies, sermons, historical briefs, cemetery tombstone listings, local businesses' histories

Sturgis Library Collections - http://www.sturgislibrary.org/collections/ - access to the Preserving Memory digital archival database (documents, photos, postcards) and the Barnstable Patriot newspaper archive; there are also links to other Cape Cod area newspaper archives

Suffolk Registry of Deeds - http://www.suffolkdeeds.com/ - this is definitely a stop if your ancestors lived in Boston or Suffolk County. Included are old recorded land plans index books (1935-1999), old recorded land plans (1800s), Suffolk County atlases (varies; 1874-1981), grantee indexes (1961-1978) and grantor indexes (1961-1965)

Topsfield Historical Society - http://www.topsfieldhistory.org/index.shtml - history, newsletters

Town of Amherst Cemetery Record Search - http://gis.amherstma.gov/apps/cemetery/

Town of Andover Spring Grove Cemetery Lot Search - http://andoverma.gov/facilities/cemetery/

Town of Littleton Cemeteries - http://www.littletonma.org/content/53/101/1343/1345/default.aspx - lists burials at Westlawn Cemetery and Old Burying Ground, as well as veterans and the pet cemetery

Old Ironsides: USS Constitution Museum Artifact and Manuscript Collections - http://www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/collections/collections/index.htm - Art and Artifacts ("From paintings and portraits to uniforms and weapons, discover the stories behind some of the Museum's most fascinating War of 1812-era objects and artwork!") and Library and Manuscript Collections ("Explore a selection of the 7,500 items in the Museum's manuscript collection, and visit the Archives Inventory page to view and download PDF inventories.")

Walden Woods Project - The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: The Digital Collection - http://www.walden.org/Library/The_Writings_of_Henry_David_Thoreau:_The_Digital_Collection - correspondence, essays, journal, notebooks, poems, selections, and more

Waltham Public Library Death Index - http://www.waltham.lib.ma.us/localhistory/waltham_city_directory_deaths_1912-1960.pdf - .pdf file of deaths extracted from city directories, 1912-1960

Woods Hole Historical Photo Collection - http://www.woodsholemuseum.org/woodspages/tour2.html

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Online Collections - http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Library/Archives/online.html - WPI history, online books and publications, faculty publications, faculty and student projects, and online databases

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Check out my Massachusetts Online Historical Directories page.

Friday Findings: More on the Polar Bears Documentary, Plus Some JOHNSONs

This has been one of those crazy busy weeks where I'm burning the candle at both ends and perhaps in the middle as well, so I didn't get much done in the area of research (if you've e-mailed me or commented on my blog, it may be a while before I respond). I started a post on my brickwall ancestor that I hope to get posted this weekend or early next week. It takes time to get all my information together in an organized and chronological manner.

I heard from the producer of the Polar Bear documentary and she requested to use the note my great-grandfather kept on his person at all times "just in case" in her film, a request I was happy to grant. She is also going to send me an invitation to a Southern California screening of the film this summer. I have no idea if I will be able to attend, so I haven't even thought about overwhelming details of finding lodging and transportation while down there, etc.

I did do a little playing around at FamilySearch Record Search and believe I've found a couple of records pertaining to two children of my ancestors, Nelson H. JOHNSON and Catherine MASSEY. Their daughter Martha was my 3rd-great-grandmother and I may have found two of Martha's four siblings, Henry and Susan.

Next week, I hope to be able to spend more time in research.

Even More of This and That

I was up in the wee hours of the morning (teenagers, sleepover...need I say more?), so I got on the computer and checked my Google Reader to catch the East Coast blogs' morning posts. Did you see that George G. Morgan is discontinuing his blog, "Along Those Lines..." to do more writing-for-pay as well as keep up with his busy lecturing schedule? We'll miss him.

I'm sure someone's blogged about this before, but I stumbled across the Local History and Genealogy Reading "Room" of the Library of Congress' website. Of course, it was bookmarked immediately, and I suggest you do the same!

Lori Thornton at Smoky Mountain Family Historian links to an article about the Boston Public Library Digitization Project. Exciting!

I'm not a Martha Stewart fan, but she does have a good tip for storing ornaments. Many of us genealogists have ornaments that are antiques, modern family favorites passed down over a couple of generations, or decorations created to honor our ancestors. We should do our best to preserve these special keepsakes:

The boxes that your ornaments came in are best for storage; if you didn't save the originals, you can wrap each piece individually in acid-free tissue paper, and pack them in a sturdy, compartmentalized box (or use paper cups to keep ornaments separate). Be sure to store the box in a stable environment, such as a closet; fluctuating temperatures and moisture levels in attics and basements can be harmful to the decorations. [from www.marthastewart.com, search site for "ornament storage"]

The Legend of Joseph Josiah ROBBINS

See images of your Civil War ancestors' Pension Index cards.

When I was growing up, one of the favorite things I loved to hear when I being tucked in bed by my father were the old family stories. Living in Southeast Alaska in the '70s, no one had television, unless they lived in one of the cities like Ketchikan. So good books and other printed material, oral stories, and recorded music (once our little farm outside of town got electricity) were our main forms of entertainment. How grateful I am now for that childhood!

The one story I heard occasionally was of father-and-son ancestors, Joseph Josiah ROBBINS and Charles H. ROBBINS, who had both fought in the Civil War. Ol' Charlie had had plenty of adventures and because my grandfather remembered him (Charlie was Grandpa's great-grandfather) and attended Grand Army of the Republic reunions with him, those adventures which provided plenty of material for good family tales were quickly passed down the generations. Charlie himself helped proliferate the legend of his father.

Joseph Josiah ROBBINS had fought in the Civil War as an old man on the side of the Yankees, went the story. He had joined up because he already had military experience fighting in the Mexican War of 1848. While out West during in 1849, he had headed towards California to hunt for gold with the other Forty-Niners, but changed his mind and returned to his family in Pennsylvania. While in Union Army, he was captured by the Rebs and incarcerated in the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia. Conditions there were so terrible, that Joseph had gone blind from scurvy. In an interview by a reporter from a local paper not long before his death in early 1934, Charlie told of how his father had been a participant in a prisoner exchange, and thus had been returned to the Union Army. He had lived to be 99 years old.

Nine years ago this month, I sent off to the National Archives for a copy Joseph's pension application. I believe I spent a total sum of $20.00 (those were the days!). I received 25 legal-sized photocopies of documents from his file, and what a treasure trove they were! First of all, they confirmed his service as a private in Company E, 58th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers from 26 September 1861 to 9 January 1865, with a little more than a year-long detachment with the 7th Massachusetts Battery. Joseph, although at age 41 would have been much older than most of the recruits, was certainly nowhere near being an old man! The records provided a first name and a death date and place of a wife we had never heard of, prior to his marriage of our ancestor. They also gave the date and place of marriage to my ancestor Marinda and confirmed that her maiden name also was ROBBINS (still working on how they possibly could have been related to each other!). There were all sorts of juicy tidbits including how difficult it had been for first his wife (who would have also been elderly during that time), and later his son and daughter-in-law, Ben Franklin and Helena (SWEET) SKINNER ROBBINS, to care for him in his elder years, blind and senile as he was. There were no nursing homes in those days, no respite care, no traveling nurses or Hospice services to assist the family.

The pension records confirmed that Joseph was indeed blind, and that it was related to his military service; but it lists in detail how that disability came to be. While Joseph was at Cliffburne Barracks in Washington, D.C. in early June 1864, he was hospitalized at Satterlee Hospital for fainting, bleeding from the nose, and chronic inflammation of both eyes. His biography in History of Manistee, Mason, and Oceana counties, Michigan..., which as far as I can determine, corroborates with all sworn statements in his pension records, describes the cause as sunstroke. A week after he was discharged at Chapin's Farm, Virigina, he sought out both a doctor and a lawyer in Philadelphia and applied for his first Invalid Army Pension, stating that he had "lost almost the entire sight of both eyes rendering him unfit to follow his occupation," which was farming. The pension records give a clear picture of the difficulties that Joseph and his family members had because of his disability from the time he returned home from the war until his death in Newfield Township, Oceana County, Michigan on 27 July 1905. He was 84, not 99, as son Charlie claimed.

Nowhere in his pension records is there any mention of capture, imprisonment, or a prisoner exchange. There is also no evidence that he served in the War with Mexico; but then, it's not likely that information would show up in these records. Their purpose was to determine that Joseph had become disabled through his military service during the Civil War, and that he deserved a pension, as did his widow Marinda, after his death. Attempts I've made to verify possible service during the War with Mexico have led nowhere. In the Civil War Prisions database maintained by the National Parks Service, I have not been able to find Joseph, even though I've used a variety of spellings, first and last name combinations, and initials.

I believe that Joseph's story was confused in his son Charles' elderly mind with other tales he may have heard from his GAR comrades, or perhaps with the tragic tale of his best friend and step-brother-in-law, Angelo CRAPSEY, whose experiences in the infamous Confederate Libby Prison caused him to go insane and later kill himself after the war's end. So although the account of Andersonville made for a lively legend, the real story of Joseph's service during the Civil War was a fascinating account, nonetheless!

(See a photo of Joseph's grave here.)
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Bibliography:

History of Manistee, Mason and Oceana counties, Michigan ... Chicago: H.R. Page & Co., 1882.

Michigan. Oceana County. County Clerk's Office, Hart. Death Registers. Joseph J. Robbins entry.

Robbins, Bryan H., oral history. Various dates from c. 1970 through c. 1984, at Robbins homes in Alaska and Colville, WA. Transcript held in 2007 by Miriam Robbins Midkiff,
Spokane, WA.

Robbins, Robert L., oral history. Summer 1989, at Midkiff home near Deep Creek, WA. Transcript held in 2007 by granddaughter Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Spokane, WA. Mr.
Robbins is now deceased.

Unknown. "Charles Robbins is One of First to Visit Hesperia." Photocopy of typed transcribed undated clipping, c. 1931 - 1933, from unidentified newspaper, possibly in Newaygo County, Michigan. Owned 2007 by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, Spokane, WA.

United States. National Archives, Washington D.C. Civil War Veteran's Father's Pension Application File of John Crapsey, application no. 284,159, certificate no. 380,350.

United States. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Civil War Veteran Pension Application File of Joseph J. Robbins, application no. 60,087, certificate no. 193,978. Includes documents from Civil War Veteran's Widow's Pension Application File of Marinda Robbins, application no. 833,911, certificate no. 623,194.

United States. National Park Service, Washington, D.C. Civil War Prisons database, Andersonville. Online <http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/prisoners.htm>. Viewed 1 September 2007.

View the Brady Civil War Photos collection.

The SWEERS Connection

Find your ancestors in Revolutionary War Rolls.

Before I left for vacation two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a lady named Nancy, who coincidentally hails from Yakima, Washington, just a three-hour drive from my hometown. Nancy has been chasing the HILT family all over Maine and Massachusetts, she says, and she found my record of Peter HILT who married Margaret ZWIERS on my WorldConnect database at RootsWeb.

First off, if you aren't familiar with WorldConnect, it is a place at RootsWeb where you can upload your family tree database in GEDCOM format. Information on living persons is automatically "cleaned" from viewers on the Internet, for privacy's sake. As a submitter of my GEDCOM, I can use my database as a backup file in the event of a computer crash, home fire, natural disaster, etc. and download a copy of my entire GEDCOM back into my computer in the event that it is necessary. Did I mention this is free, as is everything on RootsWeb?

One of the nifty features of WorldConnect--and this feature is also available at many of the other databases at RootsWeb--is the ability to add Post-ems. Say that you, like Nancy, were searching for Peter HILT and you found him on my WorldConnect database. When you click on his file, you can then click on the "Add Post-em" link near the top of the page. You will then be prompted to register for a free member account, if you don't already have one and are signed in. Next you will be able to leave a Post-em; think of it as an electronic sticky note. This will include your name, e-mail address, and a short message, such as "Hi, I'm researching this individual, too!" or "I have records that show a different death date for this individual." You can leave the URL and title of your website or blog, if you wish, and then create a password for security's sake. After you click the "post" button, an e-mail will be sent to me, and we can connect further, if we desire.

Anyway, back to my SWEERS family. From my research, I knew that a Daniel ZWIERS, a Palatine born in Germany, immigrated to the U.S. on the galley Ann, where he landed in Philadelphia on 27 September 1746. Then I have no more record of him until 1762, when he and his wife Margery join the First Church of Lancaster, Worcester Co., Massachusetts on June 18th. He and his family lived in the Lancaster area until his death in 1779. Thus far, I've been able to determine that he and Margery had at least six children: Jacob, Daniel Jr., Margaret (who married Peter HILT), Barbara (who married William SHAW), Peter, and a son who was "killed with a cart" in Lancaster on 30 April 1765.

Jacob, Peter, and Daniel Jr. (my ancestor) all served in the Revolution; the first two for Massachusetts, and Daniel for Vermont. In fact, I've recently found Daniel in the Revolutionary War Rolls at Footnote (more on that another time). I've been able to trace this family all through New England, New York, Ontario and into Michigan, as the name has evolved from ZWIERS to ZWEARS, then SWEARS and finally, SWEERS. But what has puzzled me was that 19-year gap from Daniel Sr.'s arrival in Philadelphia until his appearance in Lancaster. And why Lancaster? It was a Puritan stronghold, and to my knowledge, no Palatines were in the area. Where in the Palatine did Daniel and Margery hail from? I haven't been able to find them in histories of Palatine immigrants. Nancy may have the answers.

She sent me copies of pages from the book, Broad Bay Pioneers: 18th Century German-Speaking Settlers of Present-Day Waldoboro, Maine by Wilford W. Whitaker and Gary T. Horlacher. I found a long history of the HILT family, as well as a short mention of the ZWIERS family, stating that the name "Zwier" was an occupational surname, "meaning a member of a two person group in court or other official duties." According to this book, the original spelling was "Zweier." Hmmm...I know just enough German to know that Zwier and Zweier would have two distinct pronunciations--zhveer and zhvy-er, respectively--so I wonder about the accuracy of this.

The book continues that the ZWIERS family's origins in Germany are unknown and that Daniel apparently arrived in Boston on 9 November 1751 on the Priscilla, coming to Broad Bay later. Broad Bay Plantation was a settlement founded in 1748 by German immigrants from the Rheinland area (the present-day Rheinland-Pfalz [also known as Rhineland-Palatinate] area of Germany is the home of the Palatines). The settlement is now known as Waldoboro, Lincoln Co., Maine.

Daniel's daughter Margaret is listed, with a birthdate that I did not have, as well as a child of Margaret and Peter's, and some information on grandchildren of this couple. The children I had in my database as being the offspring of Peter and Margaret actually turn out to be children of Peter and his second wife, Anna Margaretha Löbensaler, whom he married in early 1768 (giving me a probable death date of 1767 for Margaret ZWIERS).

There is also information on another possible son of Daniel and Margery, born about 1751. This cannot be the same as the unknown son who died in 1765 in Lancaster, as the former was married with children who were born in 1779 and 1787.

There's a Daniel ZWAUR who signs a petition in Broadbay in 1788. This cannot be Daniel ZWIERS, I, as he died in Lancaster in 1779. It could be his son, my ancestor, Daniel ZWEARS, II who has a 17-year gap between records I've found for him as a member of First Church in Lancaster in 1773 and his appearance on the 1790 Federal Census for Dummerston, Windham Co., Vermont.

Unfortunately, Broad Bay Pioneers has no sources cited for its information, according to Nancy, so it's difficult to determine where the authors got their information and how accurate it is. It does provide me with some possible answers to my questions, especially informing me that there was a settlement of German Protestants in New England at the time my ZWIERSes were living in the area. Maine was considered a part of Massachusetts in those days, and it wasn't unusual for people to move back and forth between those two areas.

A couple of theories I've since developed with this information that will bear further investigation include:

• 1. My Daniel ZWIERS first came to what is now the U.S. in 1746 on the galley, Ann, to Philadelphia without his wife and children. He worked to save money to bring the rest of the family over, returning to Germany to fetch them, and arriving on the Priscilla in Broad Bay, Maine in 1751. Later, he moved to Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1762, where he lived for the remainder of his days.
• 2. The Daniel ZWIERS who appears in Philadelphia is not my ancestor, but another immigrant with the same name. My Daniel does not come to America until 1751, arriving in Broad Bay.

This information excites me, because this family is one of my few colonial families that does not already have a published history. It's much more fun to do the research yourself than to discover that the history has been done to death, as what has happened all-too-frequently in my many Puritan and Pilgrim lines!

P.S. This is only one of two known German ancestral lines that I have. The other is my ENGBRENGHOF line, a family that came from Burgsteinfurt, Westfalen to the province of Friesland, the Netherlands between 1774 and 1778, and married into my DOLSTRA line there in the village of Marrum, municipality of Ferwerderadeel.

Some Civil War Soldiers Buried in Spokane, Washington

As I mentioned before, I photographed a few Civil War veterans' graves in Greenwood Memorial Terrace here in Spokane on Sunday. Here's a list of the veterans, with links to their memorial pages and grave photos on Find A Grave:

C. R. Bardwell - Company C, 6th Minnesota Infantry

His wife, Mary E. Bardwell.

Eugene S. P. Bolton - Company A, 1st Vermont Heavy Artillery

F. W. Fiske - Company C, 8th Minnesota Infantry

Martin Holston - Company B, 1st Illinois Cavalry - UPDATE 23 Sep 2007: Read his biography here.

Pvt. Albert B. Hurd - Company H, 6th Minnesota Infantry (He already had a memorial page and photo, unbeknownst to me, but I added the photo I took.)

Hiram O. Johnson - Company H, 9th Indiana Infantry

Pvt. Joseph Litterneau - Company F, 12th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry

William W. Mason - 39th Massachusetts Infantry

John W. Proctor - "U. S. Soldier"

Corp. Christian Sanders - Company F, 6th Wisconsin Infantry

His probable wife, Elizabeth Sanders.

Sgt. Walter Scott - Company K, U.S. Colored Troops Infantry (I'd love to find out more of his story! African-Americans have always been a definite minority in this community, especially at the time this man would have lived here.) - UPDATE: Craig Manson, at GeneaBlogie, has created a "brief study" of Sgt. Walter Scott's life here.

John C. Squires - Company I, 2nd New York Heavy Artillery

Henry S. Walker - Company L, 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry

James B. Warren - Company D, 18th Missouri Infantry

Musician Charles F. Wightman - Company C, 26th Illinois Infantry

I used the Sons of Union Veterans National Graves Registration Database to try to find more detailed information on these men. There wasn't much, but I did get some full names where I only found initials, a couple of dates (most of the stones did not list birth/death dates), and some explanations for some of the abbreviations.

These are but a handful of the 393 known Civil War veterans buried in this cemetery and the 803 total buried in this county. I want to know more about these men, and perhaps this summer I can do some research on them, or find their obituaries in the microfilmed newspapers in the downtown library.

18th Carnival of Genealogy is Posted

I tried to blog this earlier, and ran into a hiccup...so here goes again! Jasia, over at Creative Gene, has posted the 18th Carnival of Genealogy. The topic is "5 Best Tips for Specific Research Areas." Nine bloggers share their tips for researching in specific locations including Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Northeast Indiana, Detroit (Polish ancestors), San Diego (CA), Texas, and Upstate New York. There also a blog on five generic tips that can be used for any kind of research. So take a look and check it out. Even if none of these research areas apply to you, you may get an idea or two of how to do research in your ancestral locations.

The topic for the 19th Carnival of Genealogy is "Shelter from the Storm: Stories of Home and Hearth." I encourage you to take a try at blogging on a specific topic...it's a lot of fun!