Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

First Genealogy Published in America – 7 May 1724

Tom Kemp wrote in his blog the first genealogy published in America appeared in a newspaper 284 years ago - today – May 7, 1724. It appeared in the American Weekly Mercury. It was a genealogy of King Philip V of Spain. Genealogy articles routinely appeared in colonial newspapers.

You can read more at http://blog.genealogybank.com/2008/05/1st-genealogy-published-in-america-7.html.

Man Finds Civil War Grave in Rubble

After years of searching, a Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, man has located the lost gravesite of his great-great-uncle, Lt. Col. Ephraim Anderson, who served in the Civil War. Anderson has been described as a forgotten soldier from the Union Army.

David Cheslock said he and his wife, Donna, learned last weekend that the burial site was in Hanover, Maryland, not far from the BWI Airport. They spent some time to find the exact location, using great detective and genealogical investigation techniques.

World's Oldest Recording

Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. For years the phonograph cylinder recordings of Handel's choral music made at The Crystal Palace in London on June 29, 1888, were thought to be the oldest known surviving musical recordings. However, scientists have now played the sounds of a French folk song that was "recorded" in 1860, long before Edison ever conceived the phonograph.

Excavation Starts at Stonehenge

Did you ever think that perhaps some of your ancestors helped build Stonehenge? Maybe they dragged the rocks for many miles or helped set those rocks vertically on the Salisbury plains. I suspect that most everyone with English ancestry is descended from some of the people who built Stonehenge, although there is no way (yet) to prove that. Perhaps a future DNA study on any exhumed bodies might prove a connection but that’s not possible with today’s technology. A new archaeological dig may turn up some other interesting evidence, however.

Back to the Future: 2008

Forty years ago, in 1968, Modern Mechanix carried an article entitled, "What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008?" It probably was interesting reading in 1968, but it’s much more fascinating today.

The November, 1968 article was rather accurate in some of its prognostications:

Money has all but disappeared. Employers deposit salary checks directly into their employees’ accounts. Credit cards are used for paying all bills. Each time you buy something, the card’s number is fed into the store’s computer station. A master computer then deducts the charge from your bank balance.

Irish Descendants in the United States

As we approach St. Patrick's Day, it is interesting to note the U.S. Census Bureau's statistics on Irish descendants in America:

• 34 million U.S. residents claim Irish ancestry. This number is almost nine times the population of Ireland itself (3.9 million). Irish is the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only German.
• 24% of Massachusetts' residents are of Irish ancestry, about double the national percentage.
• There are 3 states in which Irish is the leading ancestry group: Delaware, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Irish is among the top five ancestries in every state but two (Hawaii and New Mexico).

The Doty Tavern Sign May Return Home

The Doty Tavern in present-day Canton, Massachusetts, was the location where rebels gathered in August of 1774, safely out of sight of their British rulers, to discuss the revolutionary principles that would become the Declaration of Independence. (The town boundaries have since moved: in 1774 the tavern was in Stoughton.). A photo of the tavern taken in the 1880s shows a sign in front. The tavern burned down in 1888, but the sign survived. Local historians kept loose track of it until 27 years ago, when it fell off their radar screen. No one knew where it was – until last month, when the sign appeared on eBay.

The Doty Tavern sign is a wooden board with two iron rod stanchions along the sides, 71 inches along and 44 inches wide. One side of the sign depicts a lion standing up on its hind legs with a collar and chain around its neck – believed to be an allusion to the British government. The other side is ornamented with a faded image of a horse and traveler. The name of the inn's proprietor, T. Doty,  appears below this image.

Sangerville, Maine: the Town of Two Knights

Subtitle: What do the inventor of the machine gun, a former King of England, an America/Canadian/Bahamian multi-millionaire, a Nazi financier, and “Lucky” Luciano have in common with a tiny town in central Maine?

Introduction: This article is a radical departure from my usual writings. It concerns two men, both from the same small town, both of whom left as young men, both of whom became very wealthy, and both of whom were knighted by a King or Queen of England. There is very little information about genealogy here although there is a lot of history in this article.

I hope you enjoy these stories.

Dick Eastman

Knighthood cannot be granted to American citizens. Under the British system, citizens of countries that do not have the Queen as their head of state may have honors conferred upon them, in which case the awards are "honorary.” In the case of knighthoods, the holders are entitled to place initials behind their names but may not use the word "Sir" in front of their names. The only way for an American to become an officially recognized knight of the British Empire and to use the title of “Sir” is to renounce his American citizenship and to become a naturalized citizen of a country that considers the Queen as their head of state (I say “his” and “Sir” because the vast majority of knights are male; it’s been rare that a woman has received the title). Such countries would include Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and many more.

Several Americans have done just that and have become knights. Strangely, one tiny town in Maine has produced no less than two such knights. Even stranger, each of these knights has been surrounded by mystery and intrigue. One of them was even murdered while in bed, reportedly because he was involved in international intrigue in the midst of World War II. His murderer was never apprehended.

Oldest Family-Owned Firm?

Thousands of companies are family-owned. They are typically handed down from one generation to another; each new generation inheriting the family business. One company in Japan may hold the world's record as being owned by one family longer than any other.

History Repeats Itself: Sending High Speed E-mail Messages 200 Years Ago

Low-tech Magazine has published an article by Kris De Decker about an almost forgotten predecessor to email: the optical telegraph.

In 1791, Frenchman Claude Chappe developed the optical telegraph. Thanks to this technology, messages could be transferred very quickly over long distances, without the need for postmen, horses, wires or electricity. Within a few years it was possible to send messages throughout Europe at the speed of an airplane — wireless and without need for electricity.