Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

 I don't plan these posts.  Something occurs to me or my attention is called to some bit of information and I write something.  Such is the case now.

It's New Year's Eve, 2022.  I've planned nothing other than to stay home and off the roads.  Yesterday, for no apparent reason, I felt very tired.  Today, I'm interested in Hannah Chase Butler who is an ancestor of my paternal Grandmother.  She's buried in the Tyler Cemetery near Roxbury, New York.

The Tyler Cemetery is also the resting place of a number of the Stratton Family members.

Hannah Chase married Barnabas "Barney" Butler sometime between 1830 and 1834.  One of their daughters was named Mary Gould.  In Roxbury, is the Jay Gould Reformed Church which I believe my grandmother attended as a child.  I don't know if the name was simply borrowed or if there was a family connection.

In any case, I'm looking, as I'm writing, at a web site called the Roxbury Experience; at a page giving the History of Stratton Falls.  The site appears to be owned and designed by a couple of hotel owners.  In any case, the glaring "error", as I see it, in their history of Stratton Falls, is in not giving credit where credit is due.  It is a very, very common error in historical and genealogical writing: 

"Joseph Stratton, who died in 1827, had eight children (two daughters and six sons); his brother Samuel (d. 1838) had three daughters and two sons, Jesse and Jonathan."

I know it's splitting hairs but -- never did a man have eight children; or even one.

Because traditionally and conventionally, family history and genealogy has followed the line of the father; and, because, historically, women had NO status, everything was credited to the fathers.  It's time that changed.  Particularly since so many women were left with the sole support of their children; the fathers serving, more or less, simply as sires; sperm donors.  I'm sorry to be so blunt.  In fact, some middle names came from the mothers' families.  In addition, young women often married cousins from either side of the families.

Finally, it is more often the women who are preserving the family histories.

So, I will give credit where credit is due.  It is women who have children; who give birth.  Father's may give surnames, but women give birth.  As the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) federation say, "Women are the givers of life, men are the protectors."

Have a Wonderful New Year.

Keeping Up

 After this recent nasty bug I had, I'm continuing to mask during the flu season and limiting the number of people I spend time with except for necessities like grocery shopping.  I finally feel normal; have my hearing back and even felt like taking a walk today but had laundry to catch up on.

WikiTree

I began a new activity at WikiTree - the PIP Voyage - where I'm guided by someone more familiar with WikiTree's editing, etc., through a couple of profiles to improve my Profile Improvement Process.  I need it.  There are a lot of details in editing a profile at WikiTree and a lot to remember.  I've only just got started.

I'm initially working on the profile of Hannah Chase Butler, my paternal grandmother's great grandmother.

I'll admit, I still have some misgivings about WikiTree - the ownership, the fact that servers in Eastern European countries are housing data, etc.  Still, I'm finding their process and structure very helpful.

The One Name Studies

Nothing new here right now.  I've created Blogger pages for each where I can report on what's happening which is, right now, nothing.  It's the holidays.

New Links

I've added several new links on that page so take a look.

The Cemetery Projects

On hold at the moment,  I need to make some contacts and intend to do some research during the winter so, in the Spring, I can get going.

The Genealogy Project

This is what I really want to do, to get fund together to provide genealogical and historical societies (a word about that in a bit) with a dedicated computer with genealogical database software providing a means of collecting local, password-protected, family trees and instruction to enable genealogical research locally.  This will take a chunk of money in each case but I'm hoping I can do, at least a few of these.

And, now a word...

Historical and genealogical societies are NOT always one and the same.  In fact, they sometimes have completely different goals and missions.  I belong to quite a few small historical societies in New York State.  It took me quite a while to realize that most of them do not address genealogy very much.  Both types of organizations suffer from a lack of funds and other resources.  Historical societies usually have a location dedicated to their purposes: to preserve local historical.  Genealogy societies often do not.  Some historical societies include someone who oversees genealogical functions, some do not.  Most are operated by dedicated volunteers who do their work because they love what they do but with limited resources, hours and space, they have a lot of challenges to overcome.

I urge everyone to support their local historical and genealogical societies with an annual membership, at least.  They are both, also, a good place to donate your family memorabilia to be preserved for your family and the entire community.  Their are ways to do so that indicates that it is on loan from your family.  I will see if I can get a legal statement about how to do that.  Donations to any of these types of organizations are usually tax deductible.

While I will remain a member of various historical societies, I will concentrate my attention, funds and interest on genealogical societies.  Both have records of use in genealogy.  I'll see where I can find what I need most

                                                    Happy Holidays