Quaker Cemetery in South Yarmouth, MA

My sister went to the NEHGS Family Research day in Boston and one of the things they said should be done is to keep a research log. Scientists do it. Engineers do it. Wouldn't you like to keep from covering the same ground more than once?

So on a recent trip to Massachusetts I went with my Aunt Jean to Worcester where we visited the American Antiquarian Society- www.AmericanAntiquarian.org and had a wonderful time. (2 Nov)

I explained that I was interested in Cape Cod genealogy and they showed me how to access the catalog (which is online by the way). I found the most interesting records of the First Parish Church, West Barnstable which is the topic of an article in our next Cape Cod Genealogical Society Bulletin. The Mass Historical Society photographed this record book in 1924. The American Antiquarians prefer that you do not make a lot of photographs of their materials. No flash allowed. Only pencils allowed in the reading room. The stacks are closed so you can't browse. You must request what you want with a call slip.

I found the abbreviations in these church records interesting.
CCh of Ct - Church of Christ

They didn't think of themselves as a "Congregational Church"

Pasto^E that little curly E superscript at the end seems to stand for or pastor

Of course we read recently in the Dennis Historical Society newsletter from an article by Burt Derick, the y in ye is not a Y but is really called a thorn, the sound for th. ye or yt is the or that. You don't say yeee or yut. Sometimes if I am having trouble reading old handwriting I try to write the same thing myself to see if the motion of my hand will tell me what the word is.

yt's all folks!

If you are looking for one of these West Barnstable manuscripts to prove a birth, death, baptism, marriage or church membership you can find them at:
1. The Church in West Barnstable
2. Mass Hist Soc.
3. Amer. Antiq. Soc.
4. NY Hist. Soc.
5. RI Hist. Soc.
6. Yale Univ.
7. NEHGS
8. Library of Congress
9. WI State Hist. Soc.
10. Western Reserve Hist. Soc.
11. CT State Library
12. NY Public Library
13. NY Gen. and Bio. Soc.
14. William L Clements Library

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Wow - Once again I cannot keep up. I had this idea of mapping tombstones using my GPS and then putting the coordinates online with a picture to help people find the stone.

I just found this new blog from the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA

PastIsPresent.org

very nicely done!

I finally got all the Sears descendants of Richard Sears onto one piece of paper (well actually a number of sheets taped together to make 4 foot x 4 foot "tree."

There was no way I could include distaff lines so the descendants of women with the surname Sears are not shown. Maybe that can be the subject of another tree.

I have dreamed of updating the Sears family tree since I updated the genealogy back in 1992. After several false starts I now have something to work from. I will give the details of the branches in future posts.

Richard had three children, Deborah (none of her offspring are shown), Paul and Silas. Silas had more Sears descendants than Paul. I wonder if there is some correlation in the ratio of boys to girls in the family or if there is truly a 50-50 split? Also is there any difference in survival rates between the sexes in colonial times.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I even set my calendar reminder to do some blogging every day but it just doesn't happen. Like a quiet time for reflection, blogging is something that has to become a habit. A habit so that when you don't do it, you have withdrawal symptoms.

I have found that to be the case with rowing. My combined total of "on the water" and "on the rowing machine" is now over 600,000 meters. I have joined the Cape Cod Rowers team for the January challenge at http://www.concept2.com/us/motivation/challenges/team/vtc.asp

I've been rowing since June so if I keep it up I could row 600 miles next year?

It sure is a good feeling of accomplishment.