Local genealogy and historical societies are a really great place to learn about social history and place your ancestors in context. The historical societies have relevant historical records and the genealogy societies have members that share your passions. It is a wonderful place to network and share knowledge.

Now that spring is coming and it’s nice to venture outside, I wanted to let you know about some upcoming history events at some of the living history villages in the area. Most offer demonstrations on daily life for the time periods which they cover. Many are informal, meaning that you walk into a house and the living historian will tell you about the house and life in the time period. Others are more formal where you need to register and pay in advance.

Historic Deerfield is offering two sets of cooking demonstrations. April and May were when colonists literally scraped the bottom of the barrel for food as they waited for spring blooms. Also learn what your colonial ancestors would cook in the summer.  Strawbery Banke is hosting a Civil War encampment June 8 and 9. Also see if Plimoth Plantation or Old Sturbridge Village are offering anything of interest to you.

Food history is becoming more popular among genealogists. Historic Deerfield’s annual Dublin Seminar is on foodways this year. The seminar is from June 21-23. Talks will cover foodways during many periods since 1620 and includes some talks about food and politics that sound very interesting.

Let me know if there are any local programs that you are looking forward to. I am really looking forward to the Dublin Seminar.

Thursday the conference opened up. I volunteered at the registration booth for most of the morning and made some new friends and caught up with a few people I already knew. While the classes are generally very good, I think one of the best things about genealogy conferences is the relationships that are formed and renewed. I went out to lunch or dinner many times with friends and caught up. I even met a new friend who suggested we work on a joint project. You just never know…

This is my friend Donna who I met several years ago when we were in the same ProGen group.

In terms of classes, I attended Warren Bittner’s classes on federal land records and complex evidence and Laura Murphy DeGrazia’s class on reasonably exhaustive searches on Thursday. From a social history aspect, I loved the photos of homesteaders from the Nebraska Historical Society that Mr. Bittner included in his federal land record talks.

Friday morning I woke up to the news that a major shootout had occurred in Boston between police and the terrorist suspects and the town was on lockdown as they searched for the second terrorist. I worried about my friends in the area and checked the news in between classes. It was nice to escape into a class and focus on something else for an hour. My friend Barbara Mathews summarized it best: “While our hearts are in Boston, our minds are in New Hampshire at NERGC 2013.”

I learned about some new resources in the class on Loyalist Migrations: The David Library of the American Revolution (good for both Patriot and Loyalist research) and the OliveTreeGenealogy Loyalist resource page. I also attended a talk about the resources of loc.gov which is one of my favorite go-to places for social history and genealogy.

There were some classes on ancestral foodways and genealogy clues in quilts that looked interesting, but I wasn’t able to attend them. I did attend classes on “digging up the dirt” on my farmer ancestors, indentured servants and resources used to follow the migration route of our ancestor. The theme of the conference was “Woven in History: The Fabric of New England.” Social history fits very well into this topic, which was reflected in the wide variety of classes offered that touched upon social history. The final class I attended Saturday afternoon was about writing up our research into well-documented and interesting narratives. It was a fitting way to end the conference as writing is such an important part of social history and genealogy. We can research all we want, but the act of writing it down helps us organize, fill in the holes, and share with our families.

On Friday evening the New England GeneaBloggers group met. It was wonderful to meet other bloggers and to talk about some of the technical and not-so-technical aspects of blogging. Some newbies were there and hopefully we were able to hook them into blogging.

I was a facilitator for a luncheon table about social history on Saturday. There were 25 tables, each with a different topic. It was great to see so many people attend and we had a good discussion at my table. It was nice to meet some other social historians and learn about some of their favorite tools and research interests.

Like any good historian and genealogist, I bought quite a few books, mostly about social history. I also bought a couple of genealogy reference books and a CD of 16 years of back issues of The Family Chronicle. Lots of reading to do when I get home.

All in all, it was a wonderful conference and I came away with many new ideas and resources, some of which may appear in future blog postings on this site. It is good to be home though.

I searched for Levi Savage and the search results looked like this. There are 203 results, with 20 on each page. The digitized page for each result is shown, with Levi’s name highlighted in pink. You can zoom and save as a pdf file to your computer. Many of the newspaper articles dealt with his service in the Mormon Battalion, his son Levi Mathers Savage, and occasionally his father.

Here are a few of the interesting things that I found:

This is when Levi’s trial for cohabitation began.
The Salt Lake Herald, Sept 10, 1887, page 8

In other records I have found the information needed to track down Levi’s court records. However, they have been lost and are not available. Therefore, this newspaper account of his words at the end of his trial are important to understanding him and the role polygamy played in his life. The Salt Lake Herald September 30 1887 Page 8

This tells me where he was taken so that I can further progress in my research.
Salt Lake Herald Oct 1 1887 page 8

This is a lot of money back then. Definitely something to look further into and figure out what was going on. Based on entries in his son’s journal, I suspect this is for damages sustained in Millard County in the late 1850s or early 1860s. This is where they lived before moving to Toquerville.
The Salt Lake Herald Feb 14 1899 page 6

Don’t look just for your ancestor’s name. A big part of social history is learning about the bigger world in which your ancestor lived and gaining various perspectives on events in your ancestor’s life. This article is a great example of how to do this. I don’t know that Levi felt this way, but I know that somebody that lived in the same area thought Toquerville was a great place to live.
The Union Sept 18 1897

I used the SnagIt program to pull out just the portion of the page that I wanted. But, in doing your own research, don’t forget to look at some of the articles that are around the article of interest to get a sense of what else was going on. Looking at advertisements can be especially interesting and enlightening.

If interested, here are a few links about Chronicling America

http://edsitement.neh.gov/what-chronicling-america

http://www.neh.gov/divisions/preservation/featured-project/new-release-chronicling-america

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/04/national-digital-newspaper-program.html

What are some of the treasures you have found on the Chronicling America website? I would love to hear from you in the comments section.

Here is a sampling of talks related to social history:
Special Schedules of the US Census: Embroidery on Your Family Tapestry
Organizing & Dating your Old Photographs
Oyster River Settlement and the Native Peoples
Photographic Treasures: Bringing Your Research into Focus
Catching Threads: Reading the Genealogy in Homemade Artifacts
Workers Unite: Workplace Clues to Place of Origin
A Rural New Hampshire Barter/Cash System in the Mid-19th Century
Loyalist Migrations: Leaving and Returning to the United States
Like Grandma Used to Make: Researching Ancestral Foodways
Indentured Servants in the New England Colonies
Digging up the Dirt on Your Farmer
Broken Threads: Labor in Rhode Island in the 1920s
An Acadian’s Family Story Through Six Generations Following Deportation
Researching A Community
The Symbolism on New England Gravestones: 17th Century to Present
Polish Traditions, Customs and Superstitions
Creating A Family Tapestry: Writing a Family Narrative
Leaving New England: What One Family’s Arc of Migration Can Teach Us All

Looks like there is something here for everyone (plus so many other classes, workshops and networking opportunities). Which classes are you most interested in attending?

For those in the Boston area, the Schlesinger Library (part of the Harvard library system) has a wonderful cookbook collection and is one of the few Harvard libraries open to the public. While I have not had the chance yet to review the collection, I did stop by earlier this week to get a general overview of what was there, and the reference librarian was very helpful. Read this news article or visit the library website to learn more.

Another great resource is the Feeding America site at Michigan State University. The University has more than 10,000 cookbooks in its collection and 76 are available digitally on the website. These are from all different time periods from 1798 to 1922. A pdf file is available for these cookbooks, as well as a transcript. They also provide a glossary and pictures of various cooking implements on the website.

Historical cookbooks can also be found in gifts shops at living history museums, on Amazon (search historical cookbooks), and maybe even in your attic or among family papers. Also look at culinary history books that provide an overview of prevailing views about food and nutrition over various time periods.

I’m browsing through “Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats”  by Karen Hess and “Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England”.  What are you reading? What interesting recipes have you found from a place and time important to you and/or your ancestors?

However, I will post more frequently to my new Bridging The Past Facebook page. Posts will include websites, quick thoughts, and upcoming events. Please check out this page.

I also have a Pinterest page dedicated to genealogy and social history.

I hope that you will keep in touch with me through this blog, Facebook and Pinterest!

I love looking at all the old bottles. Many of them still had some of the original medicine left in them.

I found the information on injections and syringes especially fascinating. I had no idea that they have been around for about 2000 years. These pictures show the wide variety of instruments that were used.

This was another display that had to do with bloodletting, in order to balance the humors.

Understanding medicine in various locations and time periods is one of my passions and I will always visit any museums I can find that portray this. What are your passions and your favorite museums?

The medical system in the 1600s was a complex mix of scientific theories dating back to 200 CE, superstition, folklore, and astrology. The predominating theory in the 1600s was based on Hippocrates ideas, and Galen’s expansion of those theories. Galenic medicine states that there were 4 humors in the body and disease was caused when the humors were out of balance. Treatments were designed to bring the humors back into balance. Treatments from the doctor often included cupping, venesection (bleeding) or food or herbal treatments.

Home remedies primarily included food and herbal treatments. However, treatments derived from the belief that astrological events strengthened the power of some treatments, or magical properties of plants or objects, are also found.  Medical scientific theory began to change in this time period and alchemy, or the use of metals such as mercury, began to be used.

My thesis research to complete my Master’s in History is a case study of a book of medicinal recipes passed down through several generations of women in colonial New England. I will examine which types of recipes (receipts in colonial-speak) are in this book, whether this mix of recipes changed over time, and if these recipes are similar to other recipe books of the same time frame.

As medicine is such an important part of any time period, I encourage you to learn more about the medical theories and treatments that were used in the time period you are researching. As I continue my research, I will occasionally post what I am learning. I hope that you will also share what you are learning in the comments field.

OBJECTIVES
Objective #1: Learn what motivated the Loyalists and why many had to leave and where they went.

Objective #2: Learn what challenges they faced and what life was like for them in the colonies and their new location.

Objective #3: Learn some of the possible reasons why Thomas had to leave, while some of his family members with similar political views were allowed to stay.

SUMMARY OF WHAT IS KNOWN
I have read that about 1/3 of the colonists were Patriots, 1/3 were Loyalists and 1/3 were somewhat neutral. Depending on locale, Loyalists were persecuted and subject to confiscation of their property (voluntarily or otherwise) and physical violence, including tar and feathering. Thomas lived in Vermont and was well-connected as a judge. He was forced to leave because of his views and lost his property. He went to Nova Scotia (I think) and submitted several petitions to the English government for reparations for the property he lost. He presumably died in Toronto, although at least one of his children returned to Vermont and settled there.

SOURCES TO EXAMINE

• Liberty’s Exiles by Maya Jasanoff
• Tories: Fighting for the King in America’s First Civil War by Thomas B. Allen
• Murdered By His Wife by Deborah Navas

RESEARCH STRATEGY

Read each of the books listed above and locate additional relevant resources in the footnotes and bibliographies for each book. The first 2 books provide background on Loyalists in general, the 3rd is the true story of murder by a Loyalist woman. These will provide answers to Objectives 1 and 2. Once this is done, I will draw up a research plan for Objective 3.

What events are you interested in learning about? What does your research plan look like?

DearMYRT’s definition goes in a slightly different direction. She writes that pinball genealogy is bouncing from document to document “without fully considering the info each contains.” (emphasis added).

Whether using my definition or hers, the problem is the same. Key clues about identities and relationships are missed, and the hit or miss approach leads to not fully searching and evaluating the relevant records. Research plans help avoid this mistake.

Research plans are critical to any type of research. They help identify research goals, clarify what is known, identify resources that need to be examined, and help keep track of additional sources we find in our research. They also help keep us focused and organized.

Key elements of a research plan include:

The objective: Objectives should be simple and focused. Good example of objectives include: Finding the marriage date and place of my paternal grandparents, or locating the birthplace of my maternal grandfather. Researching the entire life of my maternal grandmother is much too large of an objective. In order to bring this to fruition, a series of objectives and related research plans must be explored.

Summary of what is known: One of the first things told to beginning genealogists is to start with what you know. See what is around the house, or in the files of your great-aunt, who is the family historian. The same applies with research. Starting with what you know (even if it’s just family lore that has yet to be proved) can give you clues to start. For example, if you know that the first child was born in 1902, a likely date to search for a marriage would be 1900 or so.

Sources to examine: Once you have written what you know, it’s time to start thinking about which sources might be of help. Would a federal or state census provide information? Are church or vital records available online, in a repository, or on microfilm at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City? Is a published genealogy available? Identify all sources, along with relevant call numbers or URLs and include them in your research plan.

Research Strategy: Come up with a plan to examine all the sources listed above. This plan could include dates by which a specific resource will be examined, or could group resources in like places (such as within the same county) together so that you can visit them all on the same day. Many people find it helpful to go to the online catalog of a library or other repository you are planning to visit and build a research plan from what is available there. This ensures that when you are at the repository that you can put your time to the best use, since you have already identified the resources to examine and written down the call numbers ahead of time.

As you go through the resources you have identified, accommodate new resources that you become aware of, and add them to your plan.

Additional reading about building a research plan with examples:
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-genealogy-research-plan
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/sample-research-plan
http://genealogy.about.com/od/basics/a/research_plan.htm

How have research plans helped you in the past?