Family Group Dag - Approx Date?

It's available from a lot of the software sites, but this is the home site:

http://www.getpaint.net/

 

Care to share the man's name or would you prefer to keep it anonymous.

 

The son is George Thomas Rich 1838-1902.

Are you from the area, Pat?

 

Well, look what I found on rootsweb. There certainly are a few issues with this old piece (like the reference to Rosina's father serving in the Revolutionary War - he wasn't born until 1772) but still interesting.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~npmelton/sacrich.htm

 

Not everybody headed toward Gold Rush territory to pan gold. Merchants, saloonkeepers, assayers, barbers, undertakers, and independent businesswomen went where the money was - and theirs was more predictable and regular than the earnings of the goldbugs.

 

So true, 6rivets.

 

The merchants were the ones who ended up rich.

 

That is interesting -- Although they could have formatted it into paragraphs to make it easier to read!

 

Ain't that the truth! I have a copy of one of these "puff pieces" for a great-greatgrandfather in another line. The way the story gets told when you want to make "the subject" look good can be very deceiving.

Now in this case, in 1890, George at 52 was telling a story from when he was about 11, plus a bunch of "details" about his parents' past from before he was born. Yes, his mother was still alive (she didn't die until 1895 at the age of 91) so maybe she provided that part. But the part about her husband going to Michigan first (in 1826) and how long he was there and where he went next (remember George was born in 1838 in eastern PA, not Wisconsin) doesn't add up. I guess the geography of the eastern and Midwestern states was a mystery to people in CA. I just wish I could find the parents' marriage record.

 

Do you know where they were married? Or anything specific at all? I guess they were married before 1838 when their son was born, but besides that?

I also have seen a few of these sorts of books that include sketches about relatives. They can give some very valuable information -- but also, as you indicated, it's a good idea to proceed with caution when considering the dates and facts in them.

 

I really don't have a clue, which is why it took me so long to get this far. As new marriage info has been added for the NYC area, I've run a search for her again - been looking almost 4 years online. I think it's possible that they "ran away" because there's nothing for her marriage in the Presbyterian or Episcopal churches in Hempstead (where the family lived and where many of the family were baptized, married or buried.)

And if I didn't mention it already, the basic family run-down was written up in the 1930's. Her entry only gave a birth date abt 1803 and "married a man named Rich."

 

I know that New York state in general can be difficult in that time period. I've got a few different lines in different counties in New York between about 1800-1850. I don't have any on Long Island, though... so am unfamiliar with that area. New York did not officially keep this kind of information during that period (except for a couple of years in the late 1840s, which is too late for your search). You probably know this already anyway.

 

Actually, there are better records for the mid-1700's than later, because of the central state marriage licensing. Unfortunately, even that was not compulsory.

Dutchess County in particular is the "black hole" of family history. I have a great-great grandmother whose origins are there.

 

They started the Nonpareil mat in the mid-1840s, though they did make them later and people did switch out old cases putting in a new photo.

See http://www.phototree.com/id_dag.htm

 

Your mention of Dutchess County reminds me...

The earliest line I have in New York showed up in that state a little later than the mid-1700s -- they came from Rhode Island or Massachusetts near R.I. They were Quakers, and did live in Dutchess County for a while before moving to Albany County (the part that later was broken off into Washington County). There are some useful Quaker meeting records, but really things drop off in the early 19th century as far as records of this family are concerned.

For that particular line I was lucky to locate another researcher who happens to be descended from the same line, who is an excellent genealogist, and who did a lot of research on this line long before I was ever interested in genealogy. He was very generous in sending me information when I was first starting out on this one.

Checking on my own, though, it turns out that land records, probate records, newspapers, etc. have all helped to fill in a lot of details. -- But I still don't have a crucial marriage date that would have occurred in about 1819. It would not have been a Quaker marriage.

 

I love working with the Quaker records! Queens (the part that is now Nassau) County had several monthly meetings and their records have come in very handy. I have a whole bunch of Quakers on my maternal grandfather's side.

 

Very cool site, lilfont!

 

I like that site, too! I ended up buying a photo from the site owner through eBay within the past couple of years. I didn't know the connection until he included his business card in the shipment. Had to then tell him what a great site it is!

 

Don't forget to check the Methodist records - The Methodist church historically and today serves as a "meet in the middle" place for people from different sectarian backgrounds, like Episcopalian and Presbyterian. Also the Dutch Reformed church was big in the NY area. My father's family were Presbyterian in the city, but Dutch Reformed in Flushing.

 

Elarnia, did you have family in Flushing? I lived there for one year, and my mother was there for over 30 years.