Genealogy as Pastime and ProfessionWritten in a clear and graceful style, this classic work describes the principles of genealogical research, the evaluation of evidence, and the relationship of genealogy to chronology, eugenics, and the law; it discusses early nomenclature, royal ancestry, the use of source material, and the methods of compiling a family history. It is, in short, the very foundation of scientific American genealogy -- a manifesto of methods, aims, and principles. |
Contents
9 | |
11 | |
17 | |
Genealogical Byways | 22 |
Early Nomenclature | 28 |
Royal Ancestry | 34 |
Genealogy as a Profession | 40 |
To Become a Professional | 45 |
Source Material Printed | 61 |
Source Material Original | 70 |
Case Histories | 76 |
How to Compile a Family History | 89 |
Growth of a Colonial Family | 96 |
Genealogy and Eugenics | 102 |
Genealogy and the Law | 106 |
Dates and the Calendar | 109 |
Commercial Firms | 51 |
The Client | 55 |
How to Trace Your Ancestry | 114 |
Appendix | 120 |
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Common terms and phrases
accepted American ancestors ancestry appeared become birth born Brewster called century child church claim client colonial compiler complete consider consult contain copies correct County course daughter death descendants desired died earlier early Ebenezer Couch employed England English errors evidence example experience explain fact family histories father files genealogical genealogist give given Haven important individuals interest John knowledge known land later less letter Library lived marriage married material matter mentioned Merrill names Nathaniel natural never noted obtain original original records parents pedigree perhaps period possible printed probably probate problem profession professional proved published Puritan records reference society sometimes sources Style Thomas town trace unless usually volumes wife write
Popular passages
Page 34 - But by your fathers' worth if yours you rate, Count me those only who were good and great. Go ! if your ancient but ignoble blood Has crept thro' scoundrels ever since the flood, Go! and pretend your family is young, Nor own your fathers have been fools so long. What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards? Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards.
Page 34 - But by your father's worth if yours you rate, Count me those only who were good and great. 210 Go! if your ancient, but ignoble blood Has crept through scoundrels ever since the flood, Go! and pretend your family is young; Nor own, your fathers have been fools so long. What can ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards?
Page 11 - Thou heard'st, well pleased, the song, the prayer : Thy blessing came ; and still its power Shall onward, through all ages, bear The memory of that holy hour.
Page 70 - Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls ; 3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel : thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.
Page 110 - By this time, the old calendar was eleven days ahead of sun time, so the Act provided that in 1752, the second day of September should be followed by the fourteenth day of September. In other words, what would have been September 3rd was called the 14th, exactly eleven days being thus dropped out of the year. The cause of the error was the addition of a day to the calendar each fourth year (Leap Year). This very nearly made the average year correspond with sun time, but not quite. In every 400 years,...
Page 45 - The ascendant hand is what I feel most strongly; I am bound in and in with my forbears; were he one of mine, I should not be struck at all by Mr. Moss of Bevis Marks, I should still see behind him Moses of the Mount and the Tables and the shining face. We are all nobly born; fortunate those who know it; blessed those who remember.
Page 76 - Heaven made him poor (with reverence speaking), He never was a poet of God's making ; The midwife laid her hand on his thick skull, With this prophetic blessing — Be thou dull...
Page 17 - Whatever folly men commit, be their shortcomings or their vices what they may, let us exercise forbearance; remembering that when these faults appear in others, it is our follies and vices that we behold, They are the shortcomings of humanity, to which we belong; whose faults, one and all, we share; yes, even those very faults at which we now wax so indignant, merely because they have not yet appeared in...
Page 11 - Our forefathers sought the wilderness, and overcame it; but the wilderness, in surrendering, entered into them, and became a part of them; and we are the heirs and the victims of that conquest and its consequences.