Back from Break

The weddings are over, and things are getting back to normal, giving me time to do some work on my webpage. I've made some corrections to the family tree, and added a few new names. There is an updated PDF file of "The Descendants of William Frothingham" available, as well as a new family story submitted by Richard Frothingham. It recounts Dick and Tom Frothingham's years on a ranch in Ellsworth County, Kansas during the late 1880's. Look for more pictures in the Heritage Gallery in the near future.

Too busy to Blog

After a burst of genealogy activity in August, I've been taking a break. This is the season of weddings in our family, and the festivities have been taking up a lot of my time. Richard and Barney Frothingham have both sent me a great deal of information that I am sorting through and slowly getting into the website. I have added many new pictures to the Heritage Pictures Gallery like this photo of my mother holding one of my brothers. There is an updated family tree and PDF file. Also, through the website, Ive been in touch with a distant family family who lives nearby, and I hope to meet her for lunch soon. By the end of October, I should be able to get back to my research. I have a few films I want to order from the Family History Center that I think will help with some questions I've been pondering.

The Progress Continues

The success of last week continued into this week. Richard Frothingham, whose uncle Thomas Goddard Frothingham, Jr was responsible for publishing Thomas Wyman's "The Genealogy of Frothingham in New England 1850" signed my guest book at Frothingham.us and we've been corresponding by e-mail ever since. He has sent me a wealth of information about his line of descent from the original emigrant to America, William Frothingham. I have added the genealogy to my family tree and updated the website. He also sent a lot of anecdotal material, some of which I plan to post in the next few months as time permits. I'm still trying to find time to finish scanning the pictures from my sister, and typing in some of the stories I received from Barney Frothingham. So much to do! I may not get much sleep for a while. But it's certainly been an interesting few weeks.

Fruitful Week

What a week it's been! I was finally able to make contact with my cousin John Frothingham, who was responsible for my interest in genealogy, although he didn't know it until now. It was his research, a copy of which my Aunt Gertrude gave to me about 12 years ago, that started me on this journey. A big thank you to Barney Frothingham, for making it happen. Barney also sent me a wonderful packet of information about the John Luther Frothingham line. John Luther was the brother of my great-great-grandfather Thomas Frothingham. A few days after that arrived, I got two large packets of family photos in the mail from my sister. In it were many photos of my parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins and aunts and uncles. I've been busy the last few days trying to post some of the information onto my website at Frothingham.us. I'm a bit overwhelmed with the task, but hopefully it will all be on-line soon. Meanwhile, you can see some of the new postings at Frothingham Gallery: Heritage Photos

Looking for Lawrence

A visitor to my website at Frothingham.us recently asked if I am related to Lawrence P Frothingham from New Canaan, Connecticut, circa 1909. His family has something they would like to return to a family member. The other person mentioned was H. D. Montgomery. If you have any information about Lawrence, H. D. or their descendants, please let me know. The item is not valuable, but might mean something to a family member.

Family History Center Visit

A few weeks ago, I visited one of the Family History Centers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I am not a member of the church, but I was welcomed to the center and enjoyed the resources for family research that they offer. While I was there, I was able to order a microfilm of the Vital Records for my hometown in Massachusetts. The film came in this week, and I spent this morning at the center viewing it. Two hours passed in a flash, and I had to put the film away for another day. I was fascinated by the names. Most of the families I remember from my grade school days were represented in the mid 1800's. Births, marriages, deaths marked the passage of time, but the names were still familiar. I hated to part with the film, but the center was closing for the day, and won't reopen until fall. They are going to keep the film until then, instead of sending it back to Salt Lake City. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

For anyone interested in checking out the Family History Center nearest to you, here's the link:

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp

Meanwhile, I updated the information I have, and posted it on my website at Frothingham.us Mostly, I added sources for some of my assumptions, but there are a few new people.

Happy Patriots Day

With Patriots Day coming up this weekend for residents of Massachusetts and Maine, I thought about the wonderful time we had in Massachusetts last spring. A group of us spent the day at Minuteman National Historical Park in Lexington and Concord. Although I didn't find any Frothingham graves, we all enjoyed walking through the cemetery in Concord, and visiting the site of the first battle of the American Revolution.

During our trip, Dale and I also visited the Massachusetts Archives. We were able to find several birth and death records to help me verify some of my guesses. I highly recommend a visit if you are looking for records of your Massachusetts ancestors. Later in the trip, we spent a few hours at the NH Vital Records in Concord, NH. The building was brand new, and they were still organizing the boxes of records. We were able to photocopy the actual records of many of my Spalding/Spaulding ancestors. It didn't clear up the question of which spelling is correct however.

WW1 Draft Card Image

 

Ancestry.com has images of the WW1 Draft cards available on its site. They provide a lot of useful information, and as a bonus, a sample of your ancestors handwriting. This image is of my great-uncle's draft card.

Huntington and Wolcott

Whenever I do research on the Frothingham family, Wolcott and Huntington keep appearing, either as marriages or as first and middle names. I decided to research that line today, and found a former Governor of Massachusetts in the family. Roger Wolcott, Governor from 1897-1899, was a descendant of William and Anna Frothingham. He was born in 1847, the son of Joshua Huntington Wolcott and Cornelia Frothingham, (Samuel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, William).

Don't forget the Siblings

If you haven't seen the guest book at Frothingham.us, you might want to check it out. Over the last few months I have had quite a few readers post comments. I've spent a lot of time following the leads and it's awakened my need to do some research. Over the last six months I've been preoccupied with remodeling our kitchen and planning this years vacation. When I've had the time, I've done some indexing for FamilySearch.org, but otherwise, I've let the genealogy take a backseat.
Today, the guest book entry asked about Olga Mifflin Frothingham. The question reinforced to me how important it is to follow siblings when doing research. In this case, I only know about Olga from reading her sister Ann's obituary. Ann's obituary linked Olga to the family, and also gave Olga's married name and the year of her death.
Another instance of following the siblings lead me to find the baptismal records of my husbands great grandmother in Canada. I had been at a dead end trying to find Emma Ouellette's parents. I knew that she was born in Canada, but little else. I remembered hearing her daughter Irene mention her Aunt Mary Langlois. By researching Mary, I found her birthplace of L'Islet, Quebec, where I was able to find the church records of her whole family, including Emma.
You may also want to check out the photo galleries at Frothingham.us. Since my last post I've added more pictures, and a few historical documents to the heritage photo album.
That's all for now. I'll try to update again sooner this time.