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Volume 9, Number 1
Winter 1988

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R.G.S. OFFICERS
1987 - 1988
President:Judy Markham
Vice Pres. & Program Chairperson:Charlene Guyer
Recording Secretary:Sheryl Weissert
Corresponding Secretary:Lillian Lond
Treasurer:Alberta Greer
Membership Chairperson:Helen Rockwell
Hear Ye co-editorsRobert Hesselberth
James Roome
Rochester Genealogical Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 92533
Rochester NY 14692

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Table of Contents

  1. President's Message
  2. 1988 - Winter Program
  3. Tidbits
  4. Vital Records - Rochester Telegraph
  5. Program Recap (Sep, Oct, Nov, 1987)
  6. Pioneer Associatiom Member List
  7. An Essay on the Calendar
  8. Queries

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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Judy Markham

TAKING STOCK

Resting and recouping from the holidays, many of us are taking stock, we sift and analyze the gleanings of summer investigations and forays into distant records, while winter howls about outside.

That done, we can turn our attention to the future months and ask ourselves, where do we go from here?

This same sort of review must constantly be done by our Genealogical Society and there is no more appropriate time than now, as we approach our 50th anniversary.

Bob Gustafson, who has been watching our development with a sharp eye since becoming a member a quarter century ago, has immersed himself in researching our first fifty years. It has become for him, I think, a labor of delight. For an organization that thrives on records kept by others, our own records on those earliest years when our founders were sipping tea and talking genealogy at Woodside, are rather skimpy. Bob has done a wonderful job in reconstructing those early times.

But now, what about the future? The Washington trip was so successful, would we like to take another? Perhaps Boston?

The computer has become a valuable aid of the genealogist. Should we consider using it more as a society for indexing, data storage and genealogical programs, all of which could be shared among members?

Would we like to tackle a major publishing project? Or even a minor one? And should we have some way to make sure people working on smaller personal projects aren't duplicating the work of someone else?

The monthly meetings, the workshops, the newsletter all deserve regular review. To make such decisions, we need advice from you, the members.

Where do we go from here?

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1988 - WINTER PROGRAM
by Charlene Guyer

The Rochester Genealogical Society will continue to meet the third Thursday of each month (except December, July and August), at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, East Avenue and Vick Park B. The mini-workshop will start at 7 P.M. (except as noted below), followed by the business meeting at 7:30 P.M. and the main program at approximately 8:00 P.M. Visitors are welcome.

Thursday, January 21

Mini-workshop: "Where to write for Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates"

Program: "A SLIDE SHOW ON MT. HOPE CEMETERY AND A QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD" -Mr. Richard Brown from the Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery.

Thursday, February 18

Mini-workshop: "HOW TO USE CEMETERY RECORDS EFFICENTLY"

Program: "FOLLOWING THE OLD TOWPATHS" - Mr. Waldo Nielsen

Thursday, March 17

Mini-workshop: "WHAT YOU CAN FIND IN THE DAR"

Program: "GENEALOGY THRU HOUSE HISTORY" - Ms. Holly Light

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TIDBITS
Ruth Metzler

From Erasmus Briggs' History of the Original Town of Concord, Erie County, NY, published in Rochester, NY, Union and Advertiser Company's Print., 1883.(p. 271-2)

John Albro, who was born in Rhode Island in 1776, moved to Saratoga County, NY in 1792 and from there he emigrated to the Town of Concord in 1807. In the summer of1808, his wife died leaving John with three small children: Emery D., Malvina and Maria.

At that time there was only one other family in The Town of Concord, that of Christopher Stone. There was no minister living anywhere in this part of the country and the best that could be done to give a Christian burial to the departed was to send to Boston (NY) for Deacon Richard Cary, who came ten miles through the woods, accompanied by some of his neighbors, to lead in the funeral services.

After the death of his wife, Mr. Albro went east for a short time. He married a second wife in Pittsford, Monroe County, NY. Returning in the spring of 1809, he built a log house, kept a tavern there and cleared up a farm. The first town meeting was held in the Town of Concord at John Albro's log tavern, in 1812 when the Town only contained Sardinia, Concord, Collins and North Collins. In 1853 he moved to Wayne, DuPage County, Illinois, where he died Feb. 2nd, 1861, age 85 years. His second wife died at the house of her daughter in Buffalo, NY, Jan. 4th, 1862, aged 75 years. Her children were: Ira, Eliza C., James R., Augustus G., Almyra, Jerome B. and Harriet C.

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VITAL RECORDS FROM THE ROCHESTER TELEGRAPH (continued from v8-#3)
Dick Halsey

Note: Date refers to date that paper was published, inst. = instant (in this month), ult. = ultimo (the month before the present).

(continued in v9-#2)

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PROGRAM RECAP: Sep, Oct, Nov, 1987
Sheryl Wiessert

September - "A TASTE OF WHAT IS AVAILABLE" - by James Walker

Mr. Walker first spoke of the importance of knowing the government publications in the Government Document Collection. Many guides were listed such as The Guide to National Archives to the US, 1974 and The Guide to Federal Records Relating to the Civil War, 1962. He went on to talk about immigrant arrival records, Naturalization record and passport records, his second topic was military service information. He began with the A merican Revolution and worked his way to the present. Material for the last 75 years is not available to the public. His presentation was informative, educational and interspersed with humorous anecdotes. A short time for questions followed.

October - "ROCHESTER GENERAL HOSPITAL MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES AS RELATED TO GENEALOGY" - by Mr. Phil Maples, Baker-Cederberg Museum and Archives

Mr. Maples gave a talk and slide presentation on the hospital's early history when located on West Main Street. As historian and archivist, he has a large assortment of memorabilia at his disposal which is regularly exhibited in the hospital's numerous display windows. The slides included pictures of the hospital in its various structural stages, the original medical staff and portraits of those responsible for organizations and departments at RHO. The Archival Department is setting up a repository that will be open to the public for early record research.

November - "ROCHESTER WOMEN ON THE HOME FRONT DURING WORLD WAR I" - Al Mancini.

Mr. Mancini presented slides made from old photographs taken by staff newspaper photographer Albert Stone. The excellent collection of glossies contains much written information on the back of each picture, providing a great source of local history. Mr. Mancini's wife appeared dressed in period costume and recited a popular poem of the time called "Your Lad My Lad." We saw how the Women's committee was formed; by 1918 there were over 50,000 members involved in wrapping bandages, giving refreshments to soldiers as they passed thorugh on the New York Central Railroad, selling liberty bonds, washing railroad cars and learning to drive trucks. With so many men off to war, women came out of their kitchens and into the work force. After the slide presentation, Mr. Mancini showed his collection of war gifts and memorabilia including decorated handkerchiefs, purses, pillow covers, liberty aprons and war buttons.

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PIONEER ASSOCIATION MEMBER LIST (continued)
Julie Steitz

(to be continued)

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WHEN DID IT HAPPEN - AN ESSAY ON THE CALENDAR
by Howard E. Richardson

For those who search early New England burial records, epitaphs, tombstone inscriptions, and vital statistics, it may be frustrating to find hundreds of dates in which the year is hyphenated. For example:

"Here lyes ye Body of M'r Stephen Richardson Aged 62 yrs Dec'd March ye 20th 1717-18"

"Abigail (Wyman) Richardson wife of Stephen Richardson was married Jan. 2 1674-75 in Billerica, Mass"

or in the case of an infant,

"Born April 10, 1721 Dec'd Feb'ry 11th 1722-3 aged 1 yr. 10 m's & 1 da"

Why isn't it obvious that the child died in 1723?

To solve the problem, the first step was to ask some knowledgeable members of the Rochester Genealogical Society. Some thought it was because of changing from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, but that occurred in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII eliminated 10 days from the calendar. That could not explain the hyphenated dates in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The next sources of information were libraries, but this also led nowhere. The NationalArchives in Washington attempted to find the answer but with no success. Finally, at the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh, a question at the reception desk produced an instant answer, complicated, but interesting. This is an abstract of the explanation.

In ancient Rome, the year consisted of ten months starting with the first of March and named about as we know them through December. Each of these months had alternately 29 or 30 days. This made only 304 days in the year, so it was necessary to wait 61 days for the beginning of the next year. Later the last thirty days of the intercalendar period were put at the beginning of the year and named after the two-faced God, Janus. Long afterward the remaining days were named February and placed at the end of the year. Then, about 452 B.C. January and February were transposed and made the first two months of the year.

In the 708th year after the founding of Rome, Julius Caesar reformed the calendar with 12 months in an ordinary year of 365 days, with an extra day added every fourth year. (The extra day was inserted between February 24 and February 25 so every fourth year were two February 24ths.)

Inaccuracies and adjustments had thrown the year out of sequence with the seasons and this was adjusted by having one year of 445 days to be known as the "Last Year of Confusion."

For some reason the astronomers added an extra day every third year instead of every fourth year which required a correction 36 years later. This gave Augustus Caesar, then in power, an opportunity to correct the calendar and incidentally to change the name of the sixth month from Sextillus to Augustus.

Minor changes were made from time to time but the next significant change was made by Pope Gregory XIII because the Julian calendar was about eleven minutes too long. For this correction in 1582, ten days were eliminated from the calendar and in that year October 5th was followed by October 15th.

By 1700 there was again a difference of eleven days between the Julian and Geogorian calendar and so, by an act of the British parliament, September 2, 1752 became the last day of the Julian calendar and the following day, September 3rd, became September 14th instead, thus adjisting the year to the Gregorian calender.

All, dates before the change of calendars were designated as "Old Style" and dates after the change were designated as "New Style." Therefore September 3-14, 1752, became the beginning date of our present system of reckoning time. The same act of Parliament changed the Civil Year used in Great Britain, which began March 25th, to begIn January 1st thereafter, so that the Civil Year 1751 lost the months of January, February and the first 24 days of March. Because of this variance of Old Style dates from the Julian calendar, dates prior to 1752, the months of January, February and part of March were written to indicate both the Civil and Julian years. For example, February 14, 1751, became 1750 or 1751 according to which calendar was used. Such dates were usually written February 14, 1750-51, and same applied to all dates from January 1 through March 24. The changes directed by the British Parliament were promptly adopted by all English colonies of North America.

Early American records contain many official documents dated in accordance with the several calendars then in use. Sometimes there is diversity of practice in dating the same records at different times. Consequently, a researcher should be cautious of any dates prior to Sept. 15, 1752. Dates before that time may not coincide with today's calendar. And remember, dates between 5 and 15 of October 1582 and those between 3 and 14 of September 1752 never existed. As for the hyphenated dates, it is the last of the two dates which coincides with today's calendar, and they never Involve any month except January, February and March.

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QUERIES and other things:

We congratulate member Victor Brackley on his succees on finding his half brother in London and another brother, Stanley, in South Africa. Victor has been researching his family for five years at the request of one of his six daughters. His success centered on learning that the Salvatlcn Army in England had a missing persons bureau through which he found his half brother who then informed him that there was "family" living in South Africa. Victor, 61, and stanley, 74, recently met each other at the Rochester airport for the first time, having not known that each existed until last year.

GATES ... TREADWELL ... Delia Gates m. 11 Nov. 1845, Hoyt Bradley Treadwell, Fairport, NY. Children:

  1. Laura L. b. 27 Dec. 1846, Fairport, NY;
  2. Emerson E. b. 14 Jun. 1848, Fairport, NY;
  3. William D. b. 01 Apr. 1850, Deerfleld, MI;
  4. Franklin Seymour b. 11 Nov. 1852, Byron, MI;
  5. Orrin Bronson b. 19 Oct. 1855, Bronson;
  6. Ella May b. 17 Mar. 1858;
  7. Hoyt Bradley b. 13 Aug. 1860;
  8. Eva Belle b. 26 Jun. 1865;
  9. George Barr b. 15 Jan. 1872.

Seek information, ancestry and family of Delia Gates

Roger Wilson, 47 Parkridge Drive, Pittsford, NY 14534

EDWARDS ... ROUDENBUSH ... I would appreciate information about Selina Edwards, b. ca 1839, Rush, NY, married William Roudenbush. Her parents from Rhode Island and Connecticut.

David McCandlish, 181 Burlington Ave., Rochester, NY 14619

I would welcome correspondence with anyone researching families that came to Rochester area from Lincolnshire, England in 1850's or after.

Jean A. Larson, 1323 12th Ave. #2, San Francisco, CA 94122

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