The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-07
TRACING FAMILY LINES.
GROWING INTEREST HERE IN THE
 GENEALOGISI,S WORK.

Woman's Experience tn Searching for old Records in the Country-Pre-
 serving Family Records-As to spu-
 rious Pedigrees.
 "The summer is my best season, said the professional genealogist whose $ card bore the inscriptions: Ancestral lines traced for coats of arms and membership in patriotic societies."
 Tn the winter" she explained, Il browse in the libraries on material al- ready collected but with the long days and settled weather | can get out i'll the open field and trace up missing links You see it's parish registers, land titles and militia rolls that are prlnclpal sources of evidence and identification. T have made trip after trip both in this country and Europe searching TOT obscure records in out Of the way places. Some times the merest accl- dent will provide clue just as one IS about to abandon investigation. one morning last summer I was in New England town trying to locate the rec 'ANNNN
 gone out of existence fifty years before VII had decided to abandon pursuit Ill that especial neighborhood when l stepped into grocer's shop to buy some thing for luncheon. The rat faced young grocer was serving a GUS tomer with a cut of meat and notlceu ! him grab and tear a page otf an olu X book that lay on the counter and wrap in the meat On examination the pat tered volume proved to be the very narish register I yearned for. The en- < fry I wanted was fortunately intact; hit I could not help lamenting the amount of good matter invaluable 10 eenealogists that had gone into oblivion < by way of purchases from the shop
 .Is the work of a professional geneal- ogist profitable?" asked the interview CT.
 "JJnder some conditions it pays poor lv there being often stappages and { obstacles impossible to overcome eX- cent by long correspondence and inqul- N. But wealthy patrons give bis fees and there are many more of this soft Ill America now than could be fouha .eli f,r fifteen years ago. Lawyers employ Us osten And there is work not dllh- cult to do to be got from the trades- people who make things to-ordef lof x rich customers and must have autneh- fic heraldic emblenls for adornment. Il ana Is s born antiquarian with taste for roofing into old matter and nklhs rnr old romance the employment IS not distasteful
 .sTn searching for old records one mas oueer sticks among the farmers. once \ ir Connecticut I was referred to cer- +ain deacon as the only person con- cerned in the ownership of the eriglhal S ch,1rch register I applied for LOOK at 4he hook and was fiatly refused. The x fleason who was busy in his barn rup- bing up harness, didn't see what pusl- nass T had with the dead and gone folks +herea bouts. They had lived and Wor- pss7,ar their time out like other people anf7 now they had gone their way mo- hn7v had A right to nose into their at- < fairs.
 ssAfter much talk won him from this attitude by representing that myseil v,as . descendant of one of his fellow towns1nen, and he went to the house x 1if1earthed the book and let me inspect E if but never free and unhampereo. He held continually to one end of the page while I held the other. And even wher @ got ready to copy the entry wanted he held his end of the cover.
 ger never trust nobody he explained arhe smoother they talk and the sweet er they look the more l watch out fo' tEem.'
 $ ssIt is doubtful if the old deacor knew it, but very valuable records nave heen stolen. There are gaps in parlsf X records and family Bible records where napes have been cut out without th' caretaker's knowledge. A whole family < of neon1e scattered through man! sta+es are now on the lookout for cer tain tin box containing the copy Of will stolen by an attorney. The VII had to do with property that growing
 manufacturing town has since doubled and trebled in value It is presume' < That the document was smuggled of and sold to interested parties with m tent to destroy the evidence for thi particular set of heirs, as well as u hinder the discovery of the original in strument
 .Sometimes a genealogist has to dis appoint patron in spite of every de < sire to please. A woman applied to m rnontbl ago to look up her pedigree ln4rha s.shad lust come into a handsom fortune and wanted title to join q pa triotic society, and also desired cres fnr personal use. Her name bein
 rather uncommon, I located her ances tors with comparatively little difticul tv but found that one progenitor ha
 died on the gallows and another ende
 1ifa in 2. mad-house She was muc
 disappointed at the result of my re searches. but behaved so handsomel
 in the matter of compensation that
 wished most heartily that I could hay coined her a satisfactory pedigree.
 nAre there many such pedigree coined?'
 "Yes. occasionally with the princi
 naPs knowledge and again when he entirely innocent of the imposture. { clever and daring imposition of thi sort came to light last year. Colone
 S. an English gentleman, employed
 genealogical specialist to search int
 +he archives of a certain shire an
 make him a pedigree. The genealogis
 fn q. short time had drawn up for hl
 client a pedigree extending bavk tW
 hundred and fifty years and backed
 with duly authenticated records, Will'
 deeds, etc. The colonel paid him su'