The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-08

sixth generation. Thus did Welles
cover the ground Of genealogy.
Strangely enough, the men who were
supposed to be typically democratic
appear to be among those who longed
most for genealogical distinctin. Here
is a letter from Garfield to Welles:
Hiram, Ohio, oct. IL, 1871.
Dear Sir-I have received the circu-
lar and prospectus of the Society OF
Genealogical Registry of the United
States. for which please accept my
thanks.
Americans have gone so far in de-
spising those pretensions which are
based wholly on birth and family rela-
tionship that they have neglected TO
preserve the materials for family his
tory. and / rejoice that an attempt is
to be made to supply this want. AS a
basis for the study of character, your
records will be most precious.
I'm a recent grafton on the life and
character of General George II. Thorn
as, / had occasion to say: Each hu-
man being possesses forces and quail
ties that may date back centuries and
find their origin in the life and thoughts
of remote ancestors; forces, the germ OF
which. enveloped in the awfH mystery
OF life, have been transmitted silently
from generation to generation.
Each new life is thus the heir of all
ages You will see from this how high
ly 1 appreciate all efforts to preserve
the rich materials of family history.
Very truly yours, j. A. Garfield
AS far as is known, the late Mr.. Jay
Gould did not figure in the 'Doomsday
Book" of the Herald's college. 1t is
stated that when Mr.. Gould and his
son George went, some years ago, to
Port Richmond, Philadelphia, to inspect
the yacht Atalanta, and the master
decorator suggested that he work the
family coat-of-arms into the exquisite
ly carved woodwork, the millionaire
laughngly said that he did not know If
he had such a thing in the family,
whereupon his son suggested that
crest might be found lying somewhere
i'm the house. However" said Mr..
George Gould, 'if you want something
neat and pertinent, / would suggest
bull and a bear" This suggestion did
not coincide with the decorators idea
of art. so the question of the Gould
coat-of-arms still lies in allegiance.
There was an American of undoubted
pedigree who did not attach any par
ticular value to IL, and who does not
appear to have been drawn into
Welles's charmed circle. This was Sam
uel j. Tilden, who could have boosted
of an ancient pedigree showing an an
cestor's marriage with a daughter of
the first Norman Earl of Chester, a
nephey of William the Conqueror.
Characteristic was Mr. Tilden's COM
ment on the document In question.
This paper" he said, may pass for
what IL is worth. For my part, / am
not ambitious to trace my ancestry to
the rufiian and robber cnlvalry of Nor
mandy. Ii is more consonant with my
principles and my tastes to prefer to
deduce my lineage from the yeomanry
of Saxon Kent, who preserved their
free customs and their liberal tenures,
rejecting primogeniture and maintain
ing an equality of inheritance among all
children. and who caused their institu-
tions to be respected by the victorious
Normans after their occupation of En-
gland. 1t is a line of ancestors who,
during centuries of conflict, have, in
every instance, been on the side of the
largest liberty, and have borne their
full share in the struggles, the perils
and the sacrifices through which free
institutions have been established"
Ex-Governor Roswell u. Flower bears
the reputation of being both hard
headed and soundly democratic, yet it
will be remembered that during his
gubernatorial campaign ne was almost
persuaded to apologize for the three
black crows which ornament his family
crest, and which some voters evidently
regarded as an offensive display of or
istocratic prominence.