Saturday, March 9, 2013

Saturday Serendipity -- March 9, 2013


Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

Here are a few serendipitous discoveries from this week that I commend for inclusion on your reading list.

1.  I did a two-part posting this week titled Discovery and Remembrance.  For reasons related to the ultimate subject of the piece, I noted that yesterday, March 8, 2013, was the 139th anniversary of the death of President Millard Fillmore.  President Fillmore is one of our least known and usually lesser regarded Presidents.  He is often the butt of jokes and is consistently ranked in the bottom ten of our chief executives.  I had reason to want to read and learn more about Millard Fillmore and found out much about a man who was born in a log cabin, built himself up from nothing, became a lawyer by reading the law, formed his own law firm, served in the state legislature and then in Congress, battled entrenched political machines, was immersed in the founding of a new political party, and found himself in a position where he had to try to find a way to hold the Union together.  Sound familiar to anyone?  For history buffs out there I recommend for your edification and reading pleasure what is perhaps the only full, serious, and scholarly biography of Fillmore -- Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President by Robert J. Rayback (Newtown, CT, American Political Biography Press, 2009 printing). 

2.  The Weekly Genealogist by NEHGS scores again with a nice gem.  For those of you who happily grew up in, or dumbstrickenly observed, the 1970s . . . here is a 30-photo album of stunning color photographs in Project DOCUMERICA (1971-1977) created by the EPA during the time of America's modern environmental awakening.  The National Archives brings us "Searching for the Seventies."   

3.  200,000 Surnames Now Extinct!?  Who knew?  Well Upfront with NGS provided an alert and link to the story here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/its-goodbye-mr-clegg-and-mr-chips-just-some-of-200000-surnames-now-extinct-8506190.html  No more Funks and the Chips are down while no one can find any Hatmans!

4.  We have probably all used Census data to discover information about our ancestors and relatives, but how about using the Census to research the history of a house (or in the case of this interesting post "houses")?  Janine Adams at Organize your Family has a very engaging account of the history of the house where she and her husband live.

5.  And there is another fun and informative read from Judy G. Russell at The Legal Genealogist.  Sue Grafton will be surprised to learn that "H" is [not] for Homicide.  Judy does a nice riff on the letter "H" and informs us that "H is for Henry."

6.   Diane McLean Boumenot at One Rhode Island Family provides a great service for those of us with early roots in Rhode Island.  But on second thought, isn't EVERYONE really interested in Little Rhody??  In her March 8th post Diane provides thumbnail excerpts from the ten volumes of "Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England" along with links where the materials in the volumes can be viewed and downloaded.  Thank you Diane!!
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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew
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1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the kind mention, John. I had to start an email subscription to your blog because I think I miss things in my reader. I look forward to hearing more about Anne Aldrich of Cumberland; I have Aldriches in Cumberland around that time; mine moved just north into Sheldonville, in Wrentham. I am also descended from Hunts, and several other names in your list farther back.

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