The times., 1899-01-15
HUNTING UP ONES FeRBEARs.
Increased SIntcrest of Americansl !
Genealogicnl Affairs. ~

| CFrcm the Kansas City Stsr.) ~
| The fact of the increase OF the taste for,
| genealogical research in the United states
| has been frequently noticed In these col
| umns. The revival OF the interest In
American pedigrees is a modern one and
has been attributed to the organization OF
such societies the Sons of the American
Revolution, the Sons of the Revolution, the
Daughters of the Revolution. the Society OF
Colonial Danes and the like. II was the
establishment of these patriotic societies
which gave Americans. who had before re-
jected any interest in their ancestry as un-
republican and savoring OF aristoeracy.
their excuse. Surely it did not argue a
| lack of fidelity to democratic or republican
institutions 10 wish TO know yourself de-
scended from men who made such iDstitu-
tions possible in North America, A man
could not be deemed an aristocrat because
he traced his descent from some poor SOL
dier who left his bloody tracks on the snow
at Valley Forge. or an embattled farmer"
who mustered with his neighbors az Lex
ington, Relieved of all scruples by this
reasoning, many Americans have. within
the last ten years, engaged in tracing lami-
4 iy lines who twenty years ago would have
| felt lofty and republican scorn for such
Investigations
The increased interest of cur people in
| genealogical matters has greatly increas-
ed the number of family books and pub
iicatiCns OF all sorts relating to historic
and genealogical questions. Our own pub
| lie library has. within few months COL
| lected more works on this department OF
American history than existed in the en-
tire State of Missouri five years ago. This
collection has been made TO satisfy a con-
! slant demand and the books are daily
sought by readers and students.
To the intending gsnealogist. the per-
! son who ccntemplates hunting a pedigree.
and searching through the historic woods
for family tree. il may be said that he
Is starting on pleasing yet anxious. and
allurlng and yet difficult pursuit The
/ original settlers who came to these
shores unless Of Enthusiastically high or
noble descent. seemed to have cared little
for their ancestral beginnings. George
Washington. after he became a famous
man. was tnterrogated as to his family
and replied that he had always been a
busy man: that he had paid scant atten-
I ton TO the subject and really knew little
or nothing of the Washingtons prior to
their arrival in Virginia: yet Washington
mad preserved his coat-of-arms and had
1t painted on his carriage and very large
ly through this his family was traced to
the Washington family OF SuIgrave in
England.
Which ne seems to have cared so little
mas. since his day interested many in
Vestgators, and numerous Americans
travelling in England have turned aside
from the beaten thoroughfares to search
IN certain country churches for worn and
fading stones bearing the name and arms
OF Washington. Had the Washingtons
VINO came from England brought with
them their inscribed gencalogies aud
proofs OF descent, much search and re-
discovery might have been spared.
The American genealogist must as
rule. begin with little, to start with
There will. of course be the tradition in
his family of three brothers who came
over" but this is altogether too indefinite
TO be of value. The best plan is to begin
by securing a name and a place The
name may be that of has paternal or ma
ternal great grandfather. and the place
should be the town. village or hamlet
where the grandfather was born or
lived or died 1t will greatly facilitate
matters if the great grandfather performed
all three OF these operations in the same
place. y human life passed in one locality
from the cradle TO the grave leaves clews
and traces by which it may be afterwards
identified. The pedigree-hunter who can
get back TO his great at-grandfather and his
grandfather village can go no
farther. He will have then reached the
period of baptismal registers and such rec
ord evidence. He will have arrived at the
historical period before the great American
heglra began: the dispersion, more extern
siye than that which followed the failure Of
the Tower of Babel, when families remain
ed numerous in their original localities in
America and left their monuments behind
them. and so can be traced to the fanily's
first arrival in the country.
The followers of this. at first faint
trace. is apt to find the pursuit absorbing;
to find faults breaks and missing links
which will only stimulate his ardor. He
will have the joys of victor when these
difficulties are overcome. He will find
himself learning many things. geography.
history, arms and the man. a bit, it
may be. Of the queer art of heraidry. He
will read over again the history of his
country in the story of his family. The
trail OF most American families seems to
end on the western shore of the Atlantic.
but sometimes it may be found again on
he farther side. and then there comes To
the genealogist a new interest in such
journeyings as he may make in those old
countries. He comes TO understand Why
Hawthorne called his book about England
Our Old Home" He finds he has added
another province to his dominions. anoth-
er country TO his own. and to his life an
hundred or two hundred or three hundred
years.