Saturday Serendipity (November 7, 2020)

 

On this Saturday in November, when Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris have just been projected as the President-elect and Vice Preseident-elect in one of the hardest fought, most consequential campaigns in our history, here are a few suggested reads for the remainder of your weekend.  We are likely in for a rough ride through the next weeks and months as the transition proceeds toward the inauguration on January 20, 202, but ultimately, if history teaches us anything, it is that the country will settle down and ever so slowly work its way back to being more American than tribes of red and blue.  We can only hope and work toward that goal.

1.   Many of us have ancestors and relatives who might have been members of various fraternal organizations such as the Freemasons, Moose, Odd Fellows, etc.  In the past many of such organizations were referred to as "secret societies."  The Weekly Genealogist this week linked to an article titled, The Independent Order of Odd Fellows: A Secret Society That Left a Trail of Human Skeletons in Its Wake."  Read this interesting piece by going here. 

2.   All of us who have used handwritten documents in our genealogy research (which really means anyone and everyone who does genealogy research) has struggled at one time or another to make out just what the handwriting says.  James Tanner, of Genealogy's Star blog, posted part two of his reading handwritten documents post.  Read the current post and get a link to part one by going here.

3.   Good advice this week from Janine Adams, of Organizing Your Family History blog, with her post "Ancestry Users: Don't Forget to Check Family Search."  Read her post here.

4.   With Veterans Day almost upon us, it is time again to become aware of Heather Rojo's Honor Roll Project–and perhaps consider offering a contribution to the project.  If you are not yet aware of what the project is, read Heather's post here of the Webster, Massachusetts Civil War honor roll on Nutfield Genealogy blog and see an example of how you could also contribute to the project.  You can get a link to the project itself in Heather's post.

5.   The Weekly Genealogist also linked to a story about one of the top ten map libraries in the United States.  The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education in Portland, Maine contains 500,000 maps with some dating back to 1475.  It has been referred to as having "certainly the strongest [map] collection in Northern New England."  Read more about the library, its collection, and the online collaborative effort called Mapping a World of Cities by going here.

6.   And finally, during this time of turmoil surrounding this pivotal election, it is worth looking back in history to see that we the people of the the United States of America have weathered political storms before.  It can take time and there could be more turmail ahead, but we always come through it and we will this time–given time.  Read this post at Cow Hampshire blog for some historical perspective.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _