Regional Meet Ups

Post by **marilyn morning** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:37 pm

Hi Jean,

Yup, you can count me in, just as long as its not raining

Hello Sarah,

I don't have any experience with NEHGS, but may I ask why you would do your research there, rather then the Massachusetts Archives? The Massachusetts Archives are free and only 50 cents per copy of BMD's. The archives hold all the records pre 1915, any dates after that, you'd need to go to Vital Records up the road.

Regards
Marilyn

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:41 pm

marilyn morning wrote: I don't have any experience with NEHGS, but may I ask why you would do your research there, rather then the Massachusetts Archives? The Massachusetts Archives are free and only 50 cents per copy of BMD's. The archives hold all the records pre 1915, any dates after that, you'd need to go to Vital Records up the road.

Well, I belong to NEHGS, so may as well use their resources!

Also, my New England ancestors were all w-a-y back in the 17th century, for the most part. Would I find stuff on them at the Massachusetts Archives?

I'm up for any advice!
Sarah

Post by **marilyn morning** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:19 pm

Well, I belong to NEHGS, so may as well use their resources! Also, my New England ancestors were all w-a-y back in the 17th century, for the most part. Would I find stuff on them at the Massachusetts Archives?

I'm up for any advice!
Sarah

Hello Sarah,

Well if you're a member of NEHGS, then that's a horse of a different color.
Here's the link to the Massachusetts Archives and be sure to scroll down the page an see "The Massachusetts Archives Collection" 1630-1799.

http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcgen/genidx.htm

Even if you don't conduct any research at the Mass Archives, you should still pay a visit and have a look at the vast collection of New England records. Its a beautiful building located on the Boston harbor and JFK Library is located just a hop skip and a jump away.

Regards
Marilyn

Post by **SarahND** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 9:59 pm

Hi Marilyn,
Thanks for the link. I already found something I think I want to look at, i.e. the probate records for Hampden County. I have a third great grandfather who specialized in leaving no records, who lived in Springfield. Still hoping there is something out there somewhere!
All the best,
Sarah

Post by **marilyn morning** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:22 am

Hi Marilyn,
Thanks for the link. I already found something I think I want to look at, i.e. the probate records for Hampden County. I have a third great grandfather who specialized in leaving no records, who lived in Springfield. Still hoping there is something out there somewhere!
All the best,
Sarah

Hello Sarah,

Post some details of your ggg gf and I'll see if there is a record of him at the Massachusetts Archives? It may give you a jump start on your research, once you arrive here in the US. BTW (Bye The Way) Where do you live, if I may be so bold to ask?

I know you were playing monopoly in Paris the other night, but you were camping in the mountains last summer?

Regards
Marilyn

Post by **marilyn morning** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 4:33 am

Sarah,

Here's another twist? If you're unable to find him in Massachusetts, you may want to look for him in the State of Connecticut? Springfield, Massachusetts is on the boarder of Enfield, Connecticut.

Regards
Marilyn

Post by **SarahND** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 8:39 am

marilyn morning wrote:BTW (Bye The Way) Where do you live, if I may be so bold to ask?

I know you were playing monopoly in Paris the other night, but you were camping in the mountains last summer?

Um, well... see the "location" on my profile

I was playing monopoly actually in the foothills of the Pyrénées, but am now in Belgium, about to drive down to Paris to drop my son at the airport. The New England tour will be from the Minnesota base...

All will be clarified over lunch in April

As for my ggg grandpa, thanks for the offer! I'll send you his details when next I have internet. I have to run at the moment...
Regards,
Sarah

Post by **SarahND** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:14 am

marilyn morning wrote:Post some details of your ggg gf and I'll see if there is a record of him at the Massachusetts Archives? It may give you a jump start on your research, once you arrive here in the US.

Hi Marilyn,
Although this branch of the family is pretty straighforwardly from Devon, not Scotland, and thus should probably not be on this forum--since you very kindly asked...

Your comment about Connecticut & Massachusetts is right on for this family. They were constantly going back and forth between Tolland County, Connecticut and Hampden County, Massachusetts. That is one of the problems I have run into. Here is the scoop on Wait(e) Dart, one of my ggg grandfathers who has eluded detection. He is the weak link in a pretty solid chain that otherwise goes back to my 8th great grandfather Richard Dart who "appeared" in New London, Connecticut in 1662 and was probably the one born in Churston Ferrers, Devon in 1634 (I have had a lot of fun in the archives in Exeter, Devon!) With the unusual first name, Wait is easy to spot if he is there... but most of the time he isn't!

According to the book, Genealogy of the Dart Family in America by Thaddeus Bolton (which has lots of errors, however), Wait was the son of Levi Dart and Elizabeth Utley, who were married in Bolton, Tolland County, Connecticut in 1790. Levi was in the Revolutionary War and is well documented, born in Bolton in 1764 and died in Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts in 1842.

Levi and Elizabeth seem to have had 5 children, although I have only found the birth of the last three:
Julius, born abt 1791, died 1838 in Springfield
Wait, born between 1794 and 1800 (according to his age in 1820 & 1830)
Lewis born 1799 in South Hadley, Hampden County, MA, died 1845 in Springfield
Edward born 1801 in Springfield, died 1845 in Springfield
Emily born 1804 in Springfield

So... it looks like they came to Springfield around 1800 and were in South Hadley before that. But I have not found the births of Julius and Wait.

What I have on Wait:
1820 census in Springfield
1830 census in Springfield
A deed signed by him in May, 1836 (so he is still alive then)

By 1840 his wife Sarah (Sally) Field is alone with the children in Springfield
She is still there in 1850 & 1860, then goes back to her family in Tolland County, CT and dies and is buried there in 1869.

I assume Wait died some time between 1836 and 1840. His death doesn't appear in the newspaper there, although the deaths of his brothers do. They all seem to have died young in their 40's and 50's.

So... no birth record, no marriage record and no death record for this character. Just the 1820 and 1830 census and a deed signed in 1836. His existence is indirectly inferred also by the births of his 7 children, from 1817 to 1830, all in Springfield. He was reportedly a gunsmith at the Springfield Armory.

I am hoping to find some of the missing details on my trip next April. Don't feel you have to spend any time on this, unless you are looking in that direction anyway!
All the best and thanks for asking,
Sarah

Post by **marilyn morning** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:59 pm

Hello Sarah,

I'm assuming you've already read this information?

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fiel ... lland.html

http://www.geocities.com/sharon_sergeant/

A pm to follow.

Regards
Marilyn

Post by **SarahND** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:23 pm

marilyn morning wrote:I'm assuming you've already read this information?

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Fiel ... lland.html

http://www.geocities.com/sharon_sergeant/

Hi Marilyn,
Yes, thanks. I have seen it. Frank Manning (the first link) and I worked together on my branch of the Dart family, since the Bolton book got much of it wrong and anyway left off just as our family knowledge kicked in. I contributed what I knew to his site a few years ago.
All the best,
Sarah