Memorial Day

In the spirit of the Holiday that dates to the Civil War, recent work suggests future activity. While looking for details about property owned by a Henry Lunt in Salem, MA (Sidney Perley's map), we got back to a collateral family. There is records on findagrave for this family. One record had been changed, so that caused more research (Problem with Find A Grave). Per usual, there was a lot more information on this family than a few years ago (Resources and work).

Given our experience with WikiTree last year (Margaret, anew), we started a profile for John Blake (Pittsfield, NH) as the central figure. Too, we were interested in Elizabeth A. (Blake) Lunt but went looking for siblings and other members. Sure enough. There was enough found to now write this up further. Still, there's lots to do.

Turns out that Elizabeth has an older sister, Caroline, who was the first child. So, we found her birth notice and followed the family through Census and other records. We saw that Caroline had married Walter A. Ingalls. We saw that she was in Boston before marrying with her brother, Alpheus P. Blake. That unusual name helped us identify other siblings.

But, the gist of this post is Caroline's husband. There is a grave in the Riverside Cemetery of Saugus that says: Walter A. Ingalls, Co. A, 24th Reg. Mass. Vols. Earlier, we had seen notice that Caroline had received a pension. The record of her husband said that he had served in Co. A. Reg 24. So, is this he? Well, on further search, he is unique name helps resolve the issue.

Caroline was noted as a widow in 1890. So, Walter died before that. We will be working more on the details. Their son was noted in the Congressional Record (1921) as being eligible for a pension after his mother died.

Along with other family records, we made a records for Caroline as she had several children. So, more work to do. Also, we know that Walter was born in Scotland. He was about 10 years older than Caroline. They lived in several places in Massachusetts. So, we now have a pointer on findagrave on the Walter record that points to a record that we manage and can keep up to date as we research. The Caroline record on findagrave points to her WikiTree Profile.

This was our first time associating a grave record with the family that was left behind. That this involves a person who was a Civil War veteran makes it more significant given that this weekend is the scheduled holiday weekend in the U.S. As we looked at the Blakes, we noted Patriots from the Revolutionary War time, plus 1812 conflict references. Hence, we will make an effort to identify those associations as we find them and make sure that grave records get updated as necessary.

In findagrave, one asks the manager to make a change that may or may not get done. Right now, John's and Ruth's records point to the four daughters. We have the other updates suggested and pending.

Remarks: Modified: 06/02/2019

06/02/2019 -- We are working this in conjunction with the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. This case has lots of opportunity to show necessary work and to discuss methods, even technology.

Resources and work

Yesterday, we wrote of an example from findagrave (Elizabeth A. (Blake) Lunt) where the parents were changed but it wasn't clear why. We had done earlier research and wondered what had been missed, if anything. There are lots of conflicting information mismatches on the web. It is not uncommon for different positions to be about equal in support. What to do?

Well, research further. This lady had a brother with an unusual first name, Alpheus. The  1850 U.S. Census had her and him in the household of their parents. But, that year did not have relationships detailed, so we get the cabbage patch child syndrome (see Flyover country for some bit of mischief that will be further detailed in the future - like a kid just appeared?). Anyway, there also was a Jeremiah, uncommon but not so much. We have already seen his bio written since he was an early developer out in Sonoma County, California (post Gold Rush time).

So, Alpheus stood out as the key item. Solve him, and things would fall into place. Or not (at which point, we would have further work). Well, turns out that Alpheus did the trick. He has a findagrave record with the same erroneous father and no mother. So, Elizabeth is seen as sibling, however, the other names are wrong.

But, in 2011, people in the town of South Daytona FL which had renamed themselves from Blake FL, were wondering, whence the name? We have seen this before as we have chased down the same thing for places noted as Gardner/Gardiner (need to summarize this work). In one case, the work is ongoing with a slew of information awaiting analysis so as to help foot-draggers make a decision. In this case, there are differing eye-witness accounts (for more information, see The Gardiner that was), however the records seem to support one view more than the others. So, that is a continuing bit of excitement.

In a sense, this last exercise was good; we always want to have more information that supports a position. Or, we want to find things that might suggest that we're off beam.

In any case, the next step is to get findagrave updated. As we did with Margaret using WikiTree, we are using  WikiTree to collect the material for public consumption. There is one fact. As time goes along, digital records increase. As they come to fore, we can see how new stuff applies to what has been done so far. You know, DNA has caused a few wrinkles here and there.

In this case, a decade ago, there was not as much information for this family. Now, there is a whole lot more. The following list points to WikiTree where images were put up to use to write up the biographies. Given new insights by obituaries and such, we can extend the look for information on members of collateral families.

Oh yes, one bit of future work would be watching on-line postings of information. Too, there would be reviews of references to on-line postings. Meaning, anything that a group owns will not just sit there; it'll need active management; too, that'll suggest costs.

• WikiTree for Alpheus P. Blake. Each of those references have pointers to related material that we need to look at. Oh yes, the obit mentions his sister and remaining brothers. 
• WikiTree for Elizabeth A. (Blake) Lunt. Her son, a lawyer, was quite explicit about what he knew of his ancestors. One of the images is the bio of Jeremiah Ladd Blake. He notes his ancestors as well as provided details about his life with his parents. Noted in Alpheus' obituary. 
• WikiTree for John Blake. Right now, the images show the Census record as well as the marriage of John's marriage to Ruth S(anborn) Ladd. There is one wrinkle. John had an older brother of the same name who died at the age of 8/9. 

Alpheus has railroad connections that bear further study. Too, he was a founder of Hyde Park, a suburb of Boston. Per usual, the progeny of this family are scattered all over the place. We'll look into that, too.

Remarks: Modified: 05/23/2019

05/18/2019 -- There are several references to Alpheus at this site related to Winthrop, MA. This blurb mentions lots of activities that we need to look at further.

(Google: Street View, Map) Triton Ave. was given its Greek mythological name (messenger of the sea) by Alpheus P. Blake as part of development of land he purchased on Point Shirley in 1884. Alpheus Blake was born in Orange, New Hampshire in 1832. He later moved to Pittsfield, NH, then Boston, and eventually Winthrop. He his known as the founder of Hyde Park (Wikipedia). Described as a shrewd land speculator and railroad developer, his accomplishments included founding the Boston Land Company, chartering two railroads, "The Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn Railroad" and the "Eastern Junction, Broad Sound Pier & Point Shirley Railroad", and was also at one time president of New England Brick Company. Point Shirley's was orginally part of what was called the Deane Winthrop Farm. In 1753 it was purchased from Thomas Pratt (see Pratt St.) for a fishing station, and them named Point Shirley. In 1808 it was purchased by Russel Sturgis to become a salt works. In 1844 it became the home of the Revere Copper Works. In 1884 the land was purchased for development by Alpheus Blake, with financial backing from former New Hampshire governor, Samuel W. Hale, and former Maine governor Joseph R. Bodwell. Blake was also involved in filling and development of Orient Heights and Beachmont. Mr. Blake had a winter home in Florida where he was connected with the company that built the Jacksonville St Augustine & Indian River Railroad. The town of Blake (now South Daytona) was named in his honor.

05/19/2019 -- Some reading material: Memorial Sketch of Hyde Park, Mass., for the First Twenty Years ..., Founding of Hyde Park, Hyde Park, ...

05/23/2019 -- Having spent about four days looking at the Blakes, it's time to write a post. Go to WikiTree (John Blake and find profiles of some of his children and a biography in progress). Alpheus had a sister Caroline whose husband became a veteran of the Civil War. We have linked his grave record to the record of his wife (which points to WikiTree as the focus for continuing work).

Problems with Find A Grave

Find A Grave has the same problem as does Wikipedia, except it might be worse. In Wikipedia, as an editor, I can go in and make a change with supporting material. Many times, it's just removing graffiti. With the Talk page, one can discuss what is what with regard to what might be on the page. I have an example of that with Thomas Gardner's burial. We visited the cemetery and have details about what we learned. It took a long while to figure out an issue with where the cemetery staff directs people's attention. Essentially, the burial site was trashed, stones broken, some bodies moved, some stones moved, and the remainder of the bodies in an unknown condition. Yet, on Find A Grave, the most I could do was get them to mention this: Gardner's Hill Burial Ground (Defunct). In which, I might add, they say there will be no memorials. But, I have already started to collect names of those buried there.

Now, with regard to a newer burial, I pointed to a findagrave record from WikiTree for Elizabeth A. Blake Lunt. The WikiTree information is correct but incomplete. I have all of the documents required for several lines from this records due to working applications for organizations under the auspices of the Hereditary Society Community. But, yesterday, I went to look as I wanted to reference the record. I find this.

My first thought is that the adage of watching the web for changes to your stuff is very much correct. It ought to be daily. Companies might think real time and actually do. Then, I contacted the owner and pointed him to the WikiTree record. Too, I wondered who might have asked for the change.

Notice, please, that I put records related to Elizabeth there, yesterday. Alfred, her son, notes who her parents were. Also, he references some of her ancestors. His brother was S.A.R. based upon this. And, we have her brother's, Jeremiah's, word about his parents and their parents. Also, I made a new record for John and Ruth (sponsored by the TGS, Inc.) but will look further for their record on findagrave, if there is one. In any case, we need to get the WikiTree information supported with documents (which I have, it's a matter of time).

It occurred to me, though, that I started with AOL. My last entry there was about 2010. After we talked to a D.A.R. genealogist who was great, I started my own tree and filing system. It is huge based upon nine years of work. Though, I need to transfer to something readily available. As an aside, I have been looking. It is nice that the NEHGS recently offered another option (more later).

In 2014, I saw that there was a WikiTree record for Thomas Gardner. I made note of some discoveries about his wife and the mother of his children. Who, btw, had been dissed by the genealogists prior to our recent work. In 2018, they started to look at Margaret. I provided the material that I had collected and my written analysis. And, the discussion was done on WikiTree (where the NEHGS genealogists hang out, for one thing - or did). I'm not sure how the Thomas Gardner findagrave is right now. They have him moved to Harmony Grove Cemetery. That did not happen. Expect to hear more on this.

But, back to AOL. All over, you see these heritage groups saying, no AOL. Why? For one thing, those little shaky leaves. I knew nothing back in 2009 when I started to look at a tree on AOL. But, I remember this Colby connect; in fact, I have notes from then having blogged and kept a journal about this work from the beginning.

Per usual, there is a lot to discuss. But, this post is a FYI about developments and work that needs to be done. The internet allows good documentation; we ought to take advantage of that benefit.

And, about issues of wrong information? I found an article by the principal Gardner author from the late 1890s that was published. It had the pedigree of his grandmother. Nice, I thought. But, then, I see that it differs from what he published in his book in 1907. You see. Just like me having some stuff on AOL that might be publicly accessible (which I will go and point to WikiTree if I can), Dr. Frank never thought that his early work would be picked up by some digitizing effort over 100 years later and spread worldwide via the internet.

I have heard talk about Tudor propaganda. We can discuss. How will we know what is what in the future? Think of that. The Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. has that one it plate as something that you plan for. It'll require a mindset change; too, though, there is (will continue to be) a cost.

Who is looking at the broader picture in terms of genealogy? At least, some in science are seeing just how much of a problem is the computer. Actually, we not talking trivial. So, expect this theme to appear now and then, as well.

Remarks: Modified: 05/23/2019

05/17/2019 -- Or no problem. I found this brother of John Blake (father of Elizabeth who was mother of Alfred E. Lunt) who was named John and died early:
          https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51509150/john-blake.

05/18/2009 -- Brother, Alpheus Perley Blake, died before Elizabeth. His obit mentions her as well as the surviving brothers.

05/23/2019 -- Having spent about four days looking at the Blakes, it's time to write a post. Go to WikiTree (John Blake and find profiles of some of his children and a biography in progress). Alpheus had a sister Caroline whose husband became a veteran of the Civil War. We have linked his grave record to the record of his wife (which points to WikiTree as the focus for continuing work).

Henry Lunt lot

While studying the early days of Essex County, I have run into the work of Sidney Perley quite a bit. Recently, I found his Essex Antiquarian on-line at the Peabody Institute Library. Sidney published from 1897 to 1908. At that time, The Massachusetts Magazine started and published quarterly for a decade; it was the second attempt (from Salem), as there was one (from Boston) right after the American Revolution.

While looking at Vol. VIII (1904) of the Essex Antiquarian, I found this map which mentioned a Henry Lunt receiving land in Salem from Francis Skerry (see page 158). Looking at the Lunt book, this is Henry the son of John who was the son of Henry and Ann (see #20 on page 8).

We will be looking further into details of the Essex County experience. For this lot, here is a modern blog post about Massey's cove. Sidney considered that this is where Conant and his crew came into Naumkeag after leaving the Gloucester (Cape Ann) area.

Remarks: Modified: 12/14/2019

05/17/2019 -- Sidney's scope was the whole of Essex County. We will tie together post related to his work: Massey's Cove.

05/23/2019 -- It was following up on this information that we saw a problem on a findagrave record that needed attention.  Then, we spent about four days looking at the Blakes; now, it's time to write a post. Go to WikiTree (John Blake and find profiles of some of his children and a biography in progress). Alpheus had a sister Caroline whose husband became a veteran of the Civil War. We have linked his grave record to the record of his wife (which points to WikiTree as the focus for continuing work).  

12/14/2019 -- As we know, next year will be Plymouth everywhere. Gloucester has started their 400th planning (2023); Salem just threw its hat in the planning ring (2026).