The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-20
OF INTEREST TO WOMEN
GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH OFFERS
A NEW OCCUPATION TO WOMEN.
Spring Vegetables Have n Tonic Value
Mr.. Mabie's Foolish Talk.

For a woman to be successful as a gene
alogist requires a gift Of a not very wom-
anly order, says the Boston Transcript.
She must have that logical quality of mind
which men possess who follow the pro-
fessions of the lawyer. the detective or
the statistician. In fact, the taste for it
begins in an inherited gift for investiga-
ton, detail and deduction. OF these quail
tiles woman claims the gift for detail,
which is not always deduction, and she
certainly has the quality of curiosity, which
is not always Investigation. However, the
profession is one peculiarly adapted to the
feminine characteristics of industry, pa
thence and perseverance. The first step in
looking up a connection is generally taken
by searching for the family name in the
archives of some library. In doing this the
clew, even if it is a false one, will probably
lead TO an inspiration in regard TO the sec
ond step. Oftentimes valuable
is CLEANED from old family Bibles owned
by private parties, and an American con-
nection is frequently made through the
coats-of-arms or crests found in family
books and papers. A most delightful de-
partment of the profession, of course, is
the study of heraldry. In private houses,
too, many times, some bit of small talk at
a social function leads up to questions
which bear fruit, and gossips bring to the
very door of the genealogist many facts,
done up in tissue-paper packages OF per
sOnal comment. No detail is too stupid or
too obscure to be Of interest to the collec-
tor of family history, for in the brain cells
of the genealogist details are stored away
like honey in the honeycomb for future
reference. The mind pieces together facts,
discarding unimportant fancies, in the same
way that the detective makes a deduction.
1t is not so difficult to trace a family line
on the other side of the Atlantic, especially
il there is noble or even gentle lineage.
Burke is the English authority. Of course,
but all sorts of pretty bits of history come
To light from old old manuscripts In IL
brarieS, from church records and state doc
uments. 1t is astonishing how well pre-
served these papers are in England; but in
America the hard period TO connect is that
of revolutionary times, when church rec
ords were carelessly kept and many of
them entirely lost. The sentimental gene
aloglst hnds pleasure In delvinS into the
church records and In digging up the fallen
gravestones in the churchyards, to decipher
the worn inscriptions. But church records
are not SO prolific in giving out Informal
ton as the papers found on nile In the
archives of ancient public buildings.
The most successful woman genealoSiSt
In New York tells an interesting story Of
a hard journey she took not long since. TO
the edge of Yankee-land, where she had
located a cousin of her client. who had
SLllSIdleu there IIOnl the fdI OOuln, ana
was forever lost, with all his descendants.
Il found some picturesque stories in those
records; the Maine coast is romantic with
French names and Indian legends" she
says. Il found the story l was seeking,
too. The lost cousin had been kidnapped
by Indians in the early zoos, and was in
deed lost. with all his descendants"
a woman genealogist has no need to buy
modern novels. she finds plenty of stories
in her professional work. Stories OF a
more unique interest because she weaves
| than herself from the threads yyhipH Sho
picks up, a needleful at a time, and from
which she makes her net-like family his
tory. She has plenty OF stories within sto-
ries, too, which have never seen print. to
amuse her in passing. Tales are always
coming to the light from her Investigations
romances, love stories, patriotic tales ga
lore. From time TO time she learns of a
quaint. unknown Barbara Frietchie or a
romantic Betsy Ross that he world of Pen
and Ink has never found, while the horrors
of Indian massacres. of which she reads
as she runs, would admirably suit the pur-
pose of the new century playwright as far
as the flowing of blood goes.