Historic Note: I thought you might like this....
November 7, 1912---
"Because of the small pox epidemic the Board of Health ordered that all children under the age of 16 be excluded from public streets of the village, schools to be closed, fraternal order meetings and religious meetings to be forbidden and that vaccination be universal."
from "News Items of the Past from the Hancock Herald" -- in Stockport on the Delaware by Elizabeth Stephens Lotterer.
And, I didn't even have to look for it. She has an entire chapter of newspaper clippings in the little booklet which is very enlightening since I never thought much about what was on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, having grown up more inland. The book is a very interesting description of the early history of the area from Binghamton to Port Jervis and life in border towns that is still very much the back and forth it always has been, even when that border is between countries. Having lived very near the Mexican border in California and having friends on the Canadian/U.S. border, I know that International borders are seen very differently by people living along those borders many of whom cross it constantly. After all, borders are mostly in our minds.
Which reminds me of a funny memory. I once lived in a small apartment complex in California; don't ask me where because I can't remember, where the complex was divided by an imaginary border between 2 municipalities and, interestingly, 2 post offices. My neighbor, across the sidewalk through the complex lived in a different town, had a different zip code and her mail was delivered by different mail carriers. And, of course, her town and mine had different ordinances for some things. That's what borders can mean. Stupidity.
NEWS
Not much new. I continue working on various branches of my family tree and all my profiles at WikiTree.
The biggest news is that I expect to be starting 2 One-Name Studies in May. WikiTree has quite a lot of rules which I appreciate because it keeps things moving along smoothly and consistently. There are criteria to meet in order to begin a One-Name Study at WikiTree which I haven't quite met until May.
A One-Name Study is research on a single surname and, possibly, its variants. These studies can be started for a variety of reasons. Mine is a common one; I'm stuck; on almost all my family branches. I can't seem to get back another generation, find parents for certain ancestors, etc. It's true for almost all my family lines. It's very frustrating. Of course, I haven't even begun to exhaust all the resources out there but it would mean a lot of traveling to documents that aren't online yet and I'm not quite prepared to do that.
So, starting a One-Name Study means a variety of things. I'll be starting with finding all the instances of the surname, regardless of whether or not the individual with the name appears to be related, wherever they live, whenever they lived, whatever the kind of record I can find. All this time, as I've searched for ancestors and relatives, I've run across other people, clearly, or seemingly, not related with the same surnames. A One-Name Study will collect all those additional people and organize them. Who knows what will turn up?
The 2 surnames I'm going to start with are BEISMER and all its variants; and, WORMUTH, and all its variants. And, wherever I find them.
So there are 2 primary geographic areas where I've seen Beismers and variant spellings: in Sullivan County, NY, and in Ulster County, NY. Now there is geographic overlap because Ulster County was an early county and existed during Colonial times while Sullivan County was carved, in part out of Ulster County. So, part of a One-Name Study, is just that, the history of the counties of New York State.
In the case of the Wormuths, there was, early on, a family in the Mohawk Valley. There are duplicate names between that family group and those in Sullivan and Delaware counties. I, personally, have not found a definitive connection between the 2 groups of Wormuths. If someone else knows it, they haven't told me about it.
In both cases, there are, of course, other Beismers and Wormuths throughout the country and in other countries. A One-Name Study is always International so it also can provide origins of the name and the families. A One-Name Study also can describe how members of the family migrated from one place to another, how branches of a family changed religion, changed politics, changed professions, etc.
A One-Name Study is usually conducted by a team; it's a pretty big project for just one person. For me it's personal; I'm stuck, but there are other people who just like aspects of this kind of project. There is a Guild of One-Name Studies which I will be joining once I get started. There is, currently, no One-Study registered for either Beismers nor Wormuths at either the Guild or at WikiTree. That means that doing these studies may possibly open up more resources for these families and identify more people who are interested in the families. You don't have to be related to the surnames to work on the research.
So, at this point, I'm letting you all know that I'll be doing these studies. If you're interested in participating, let me know, join WikiTree -- IT'S FREE -- and I'll let you know what work has to be done.
FYI
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before: A "family" crest or coat of arms is NOT given to a family, but to an individual for various reasons. You can buy them and hang them on your walls but they really aren't yours. I suspect that most of them that you can buy aren't genuine anyway. I have several either in print or digital: Mattice, Beismer, maybe Wormuth. It would be interesting to find out who they were made for but I'm not all that interested in that but I might make it a task for the One-Name Studies. If you look up the arms of the royal family (Wikipedia), you'll find that there are official arms of various types and each individual has their own, often composed of elements of their ancestors. Each element of the arms signifies something. The College of Arms of the U.K. regulates their heraldry. Other countries have similar heraldic authorities. There is an American Heraldry Society but it doesn't have the official weight as those in other countries. After all, the establishment of the United States and our democracy was based on equality, not a feudal hierarchical society (as much as we've been able to avoid it) which required strict class distinctions assisted by heraldry and other social institutions. Anyway, if you're displaying a coat of arms, it's isn't yours and doesn't actually apply to you.
That's it!
