Putnam patriot., 1930-12-11
HISTORY OF WOODSTOCK
Gcn>s Iogies of Woodstoek Famiiies.- Third Volume in Monumental
 Work
lBy Clarenee Rowen. Esa.l

By Clarence Bowen. ESq.l
 Another great tome from the pains taking hand of Clarence Bowen, Esq. comes fresh from the plimpton Press. The monumental labor of recording The History of Woodstock, Connec- t.eut, with the complete genealogy of each Woodstock family of early set tiers. would stagger less capable and jealous specialist than Mir. Bow en.
 in this single volume, the third to date. there are 694 pages Of the most careful and exact tabuiation. demand ing research beyond the scope or the patience Of most psychologists. giants of labor though they are. The names of documents a'one. from which facts are drawn. and through which, fam N history is checked and double checked, this list alone fills eight large. closely packed pages. and ran ges. from \ to N. And the entire volume covers Woodstock family his tory only from Blu Co Cl,-the Bug bee Co the Clark family.
 ] once knew person who learned the letters covered by different vol umes of an encyclopedia by heart to save time in extracting a book from the shelves. \. E, Celt. Celt. Drooi. Drool ETC. the lingo went. Ii others there are so cautious. let them start now, while this work is in it's infancy; for the compiler k not one to halt be- fore the end. Let not him who putteth his hand to
 the plough look back,
 Though the ploughshare pass Ter the
 graves of the dead
 And the hearts of the living" is quite
 literally the psychologists text.
 Family history in Old England was. as is we'll known. recorded from a very early date. To carry these rec ords on for our early eolonists is an orderly and systematic impulse that must appeal to every thinking person: to the humanitarian. to the historian,
 yes. and to the psychologist. Not only have the families concerned bene- fitted inestimably tand whe can say how many families of descendants this eovers) but historical records. cover ing the whole world, and all of future time. may find here sources that may prove invaluable.
 TireIess Precision
 As an example of the reach of in- diyidual tribes. the record of the Child family occupies nearly l50 pages. covers. geographically, the globe from England to California, and spans pe- riod from 1903 to 1927. At the end of the family history are "Chi.d Items" which cannot be put in their proper places in the Child Family. ia f4 ha precision of these records.
 Nor is 1t to be supposed that this great work is of interest only to the antiquarian. There Is romance here and adventure as diyerting as that between the covers of any best seller. In the first volume of this great se- ries. this was true of almost every page. But here. in these genealogical records, such pleasurable reading for the layman is chiefly confined to foot notes. Now the casual reader com- monly eschews footnotes as dry ref erence sign posts, which have noth- ing to do with the story; but here. where the body of the book is essen tially statistical the footnotcs are bound to contain such romance as has no place in records.
 Thus one reads of one heroine. who. learning that she had inherited. rode to Roxbury to collect her legacy. On the way home. she was accosted by a robber. who demanded her treasure. (Racketeering is we'll pedigreed-) Holding the robber in talk, she man oeuvered to get his horse turned in the same direction as her own; and then. in the tragedy of handling over , her money. the poor woman, eontri'' ed to drop it. As the highwayman 5 sprang down to recover it, she dashed his horse, with her own and they ran side by side. Dismounting, at the nearest settlement. she searched , the robbers saddlebags to discover . twice the sum she had lost. The pioneer woman was resourceful and . courageous, and she had need of al 5 her wit and prowesS-
 Again, Mary was the eldest of thu 2 seven daughters. of Judge Johl Q Chandler, Jr., "who were called thu Q seven stars on account of their beau [ ty." Surpass that if you can in work ' of fiction.
 Y Many Quos2tions s Quotations from old diaries are al Z ways delightful and within thes' s covers there are many. Items iron s the diary of Chief Justice Lynde giy' l evidence of largesse dispensed to thu 2 Chandler household, where he wa. a an honOred guest. The children, tho
 f..4aa dasts.