Growing up, Don Reagan was told stories about an ancestor who had his foot amputated due to a Civil War battlefield injury. He went looking for the truth, and found something even more surprising: the more than 150-year-old amputated foot itself. Read More
Upcoming Online Seminar
The Society of Friends: Research in Quaker Records
If you have colonial ancestry in America, chances are there’s a Quaker in your family tree. Learn about the history of Quakerism in the US, UK, and Canada, and how to get started researching your Quaker ancestor. Wednesdays, July 12–26, 2023. Members Save 10%. Register Now
June Membership Sale
Get $25 Off Your New Membership to American Ancestors
Now is the perfect time to trace your family history. Get started today and access more than a billion searchable names, family tree software, award-winning publications, and hundreds of online educational tools to help you become a better family historian. Take $25 off your new American Ancestors membership when you join during June using code June623. Join Now
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
This Week's Survey:
When Was Your Family’s Earliest Wedding Photo Taken?
Share your thoughts about the survey at weeklygenealogist@nehgs.org. Responses may be edited for clarity and length and featured in a future newsletter.
Last Week's Survey:
Did Any of Your Ancestors Live in an Institution?
Total: 3,780 Responses
14%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in an orphanage.
4%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived at a school for the deaf or blind.
2%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a reform school.
18%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a poorhouse or almshouse.
6%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a workhouse.
17%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a veteran’s home.
13%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a prison.
26%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a mental institution.
16%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a tuberculosis sanatorium.
27%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a state hospital or other long-term care institution.
4%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors lived in a type of institution not mentioned above.
30%, No, I am not aware of any of my ancestors having lived in an institution.
Readers Respond
Alice D. Murphy, Boston, Massachusetts: My grandfather, James B. Murphy, was born in the Western Carolina Insane Asylum in 1883. James’s father, Dr. Patrick Livingston Murphy, was the first superintendent there; Patrick and his wife Bettie moved into an apartment in a wing of the facility with a toddler and a baby on the way. My grandfather and his siblings grew up immersed in the diverse culture of the asylum. A man ahead of his time, Patrick believed in the most progressive mental healthcare, which included having patients garden and play music as therapy. The asylum functioned as a community, and Bettie and the children engaged in activities alongside the patients. As a result, compassion for the mentally ill has been important to my family.
Bob Hall, Nantucket, Massachusetts: My maternal great-uncle was an abusive alcoholic who never held a steady job. He married at least five times, with children resulting from each marriage. He changed his name illegally several times, likely as part of a monetary assistance scam. His abuse and neglect contributed to the death of his third wife. He severely beat his fourth wife, which landed him in prison in Windsor, Vermont. My school band performed two concerts there—little did I know that my great-uncle was in the audience. I made this discovery fifty years later, thanks to American Ancestors/NEHGS.
Jo Hufford, Sedona, Arizona: Many of my ancestors were taken from their families and forced to travel long distances to board at Native American residential schools, including the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School in Michigan and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. The trauma of being stolen and imprisoned far from home and the abusive practices endured at these schools ruined my family for many generations.
Nancy Cohen, Persia, Iowa: At age 34, my great-great-aunt Maren (Mary) K. Jensen was institutionalized at the Kansas State Insane Asylum in Topeka, Kansas, where she remained until her death in 1901. The mother of four children aged 3 to 9, Mary was said to have gone “insane” due to “overwork,” according to an 1895 Lincoln Republican article. Mary was transported more than 140 miles to the state hospital. Her death is memorialized with a headstone on the premises, while over a thousand others were laid to rest in unmarked graves.
“Likely the child of Martha’s son from her first marriage, William Costin used his position to advocate for D.C.’s free Black community.”
Restoring This Rare Medieval Ship Means Putting 2,500 Pieces Back Together Archaeologists have determined that a ship found buried in Newport, Wales, “is the most important late-medieval vessel to be discovered. Now the hard part is finding a forever home for it — and putting its 2,500 pieces back together.”
Meet Giuliano Cecchinelli, Barre's Last Italian Stone Carver “He’s part of a long legacy of Italian stone carvers in Barre, craftsmen whose skill transformed an industry and made the small central Vermont town the ‘Granite Capital of the World.’”
Family Finds 1 Million Copper Pennies While Cleaning Out Los Angeles Home “The discovery was exciting, but also led to the realization that they were stuck with hundreds of thousands of pennies, each bag weighing several pounds and needing to be pulled from the crawlspace and brought into the light for the first time in years.”
Spotlight: Community History Archive, Worcester County Library, Maryland
by Valerie Beaudrault
Worcester County is located in southeastern Maryland and seated in Snow Hill. The Community History Archive from the Worcester County Library offers a number of databases, including a newspaper collection comprising nearly 100,000 pages from 26 titles (1830-1976). Search by keyword across all titles or select a single newspaper, and limit your search by date range. Individual newspapers can also be browsed. Other databases in the archive include census records (1810-1920), slave schedules, probate and court records (1665-1948), land survey records (1801-1966), and registers of lighthouse keepers (1889). Search Now
We've added ten new sketches and updated one sketch in Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. Additions include families from Brattleboro, Fort Dummer, and Rockingham. Search Now
Free Resource from American Ancestors
German Genealogy Research Guide
Learn how to research your German ancestors! This research guide provides a list of essential resources available at American Ancestors and other repositories, information on locating and using records, and how-to tips. Read More
Planning for the Future?
Name Your Beneficiaries Today
Non-probate assets such as an IRA, 401(k), or life insurance policy are not covered in your will or trust—you must name beneficiaries separately. Our friends at FreeWill.com have provided a free and secure online tool to guide you through naming beneficiaries for your non-probate assets. Learn More
