Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1893-10-17
YOUR. FOREFATHERS.
If Americans, Here Ire Some Use
fol Hints FOR You.
WHERE AND now 10 GET NAMES
4 Sntjrei That is Of Great and Ever
Increasing Interest TO all
Lati,r.dny Saints.


interest In tho subject among the
Saints, and TO inquiries frequently
quito me, respectfully submit the
following upon the SUI Ject Of Ameti'
can geutalory, hoping 10 convey to
peuons Interested, information that
may be u use. These suggestions are
the fesults 1f my personal experience
while making several tours Of the
older states Of the Union, searching
records, libraries, etc, and Of the study
| have ocon able TO give the subject
during number u years.
Goneal1ry aud history are insepaf'
able, aud the x, nealOgisi should be
familiar with the history Of the region
In which he IL working. But us my
present aim Ia to offer practical hints
10 rtrsons who DO not expect 10 pursue
the suuject Of genealogy further than
10 compile the records OF their own
ancestry ana kindred, will dwell a.
briefly m possible on tho historical
features Of n.
Beginning with New England; TIE
first settlement was made Ia 1920, by
Puritane. For come years afior that
the numbers VI nov settlers were not
great, but from 1850 TO 1912 the tide Of
migration wu6 strong. In the latter
year the Puritan party In England,
with Cromwell at its head, began Ito
Rscendancy, and soon after that the
liberty which the Purltans had sought
In migration was secured to them ut
home; and hence there waa great
ami rapid falllag OIL Ia the numbors
that went o. New England, daing
from 1912. One high authority osti.
matcs that sevon.cighths Of the inhnhi-
tants OF New England When the rev.
0lution broke out, Ia l77b, were
descended frOu nucestofs who came
rom England before 1912.
Hence, Ia tracing New England
nmily, W. will find, Ia seven cases
out Of eight, that II was founded by
an immigrant who came over between
1920 and 1912, a period Of twenty-five
year,; ami "a Elk cases out Of eight,
Judging from my own experience, tue
Immigrant ancestor arrived between
1880 and 1912, n period VI only twelve
year,. The bulk Of the migration
consisted Of iamilles, mon with their
wives sand children, servants auu aI-
Irenticos. To suppose that the early
settlers Of New England were drawn
from the poor and Ignorant classes Of
the mother country u "a mistake. In
Intelligence, education aud worldly
prosperity they were above the aver
age OF the EiHsses Of their countrymen;
and though their migration Involved
sacrifice Of worldly possessions, their
intellectual average was high, and
their numbers embraced many men u
learning aud ability.
Will here digfeis for the purpose
Of correcting an error, for the exten.
hive prevalence Of which | can offer
no explanation. The great majority
OF Americans who have not traced
their genealUgies from records, yet
undertake 20 give Hu account Of the
founding Of their families In this
country, will state that "thTeo brothers
came Oyer,n II Is never two brothers,
nor four br0thefr, but always "thtee
brotheIs." Why this "throe brothers"
tradition should have been ~ widely
adopted among American families IL
mystery tor which / have met with
no solution. or cOune there were Ia.
stances ia which two, three, four, or
more btothore came over, after reach
ing adult age, but the vast majority
Of New England families were iOund-
ed by immigrants who brought their
wives anu children, Hnd were not nc-
oompaniod bybrotnsrs.
From the earliest times In New
England, each Town had an official
known ~ the cfsldei sl0rk, whosb DUTY
Il was TO fpuf has lbirths, deaths and
marriage. L. IVY every town such
IA record uxistl, ont II IL seldom even
tolera6ly cpmptd aud In most cases
IL very imperfect; frequently II IN only
ffRgmentRrS. O.tsn "a book, covering
n long period " VAR, has been lost,
or destroyed w FIRE, OF otherwise.
The rtst thlug tue settlers DID, Ia
most cases, iu'tf fairly founding their
town, was 10 install u minister, who
commonly kept n record OF baptlsms
aud marriages, aud sometimes deaths.
But the church record 10 often rs de.
hcient as the town clerks.
There were also records kept OF the
proceedings OF the "town meetings, d"
l. e., conventions composed OF vsters
residing "a the town, which were held
from ono 10 several times "a year;
lists OF taxpayers, pew owners, mill.
tary organizations, etc. There were
Also, dAung from the earliest ilmss 4,
probate courts, under whose Jurisdic-
lion wills were proved ami estates
divided among tho heirs thereto.
The records OF these Cgurta are "a
valuable source OF genealogical In.
formation. The family BiDle record
was also kept IN many Cgsus, but It II
seldom that a Bible can DO found con-
taiping a record going back more than
One or two generations beyond the
memory Of tue living. Tombstone
inscriptions afford specially valuable
Information Rnd clues.
10 all these records, aud others not
named, aud great variety Vt other
sources OF Information, thu genealo.
glst aust have rtcluIHp. WHAT data
lie does not hnd iu one place, he poI-
maps may ia another. lie searches
IN each, and then patiently SEPARATES,
urrauges anu weaves together tbs ms-a
Ui material he has gathered, the result
being a chronological anu mBlhOdiuHl
record OF me descendants OF the i'm
migrant ancestor with dates and
other aItlrulalr, as yccurate and com,
petels they can Q OblniueI.
Obviously tins work must consume
great amount oi tine Rud be- CORES.
IOutiuYly expensive, II The iuvrstiga
tor In WUIkiuB tot wages. Hut dufiun
IeutUt ytnTs an extraordinary iutetusl
IN the subject has been widely prevg.
lieut. IN New England, increasing IN
intensity year hy year, Thousands O