The pieces here are quick takes on something I’ve come across that’s caught my interest. They’re sometimes about items I’ve written about or posted on Instagram, and wanted to say just a little more about. Still, these are research shorts. I hope you like the format.
The Sophian Era?
Jul 30, 2023 #VastEarlyAmerica, Genealogy as Statecraft, Women’s history
The Georgian era was long (George I-George IV, 1714-1830) and consequential. It marked the beginning of the reign of the Hanoverians, which continues today
I Still Love This Research (1997)
Jul 27, 2023 #VastEarlyAmerica, Women’s history
The basic argument was pretty simple, I thought, though it took me years of research to sort out. There are only a few tax
Love, Actually?
Jul 20, 2023 Family Histories, Genealogy
“”The Love Affair . . . now Trouble.”
Taking sex to court in early America was fairly common; in different jurisdictions across British American men and
Brown University Stitched, c 1786
May 30, 2023 #VastEarlyAmerica, Rhode Island, Women’s history
A nice bit of Brown University history after graduation weekend. The first university president’s house was built in 1770 and by 1840 it had
What’s Missing
May 28, 2023 Archives, Family Histories, Genealogy
If you spend any time at all in archives of early American material, you will stumble over genealogies. Lots of ways and types of
The Watermans in Your Pocket.
May 7, 2023 Book History, Family Histories, Genealogy
“Hannah Waterman Her Book and Hand wrote at Warwick January 14 AD 1770” is a family record book, just 16 pages, comprised of folded and
Benjamin Franklin, Genealogist.
Jan 17, 2023 Archives, Book History, Family Histories, Genealogy
It’s a good day to note that Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, the famous progenitor of the self-made man, the independent, meritorious American (okay we know that’s
#HisBook and #HerBook
Dec 30, 2022 Book History, Family Histories, Genealogy
Yesterday I posted on my IG account a screenshot from (and a quick description of) a post on the blog Early Modern Female Book Ownership.
A Judge’s Family History
Dec 26, 2022 #VastEarlyAmerica, Black history, Family Histories, Genealogy, News Media, Slavery
In October, Judge Robert L. Wilkins of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia spoke at his portrait ceremony about his family,
The Family of Pedro Yaya (Peru, 1631)
Dec 24, 2022 Archives, Family Histories, Genealogy, John Carter Brown Library
There is a remarkable range and variety of ways people have described degrees of consanguinity–or the allowed relations between those who could marry. These include
Virginia’s Inheritances
Dec 4, 2022 #VastEarlyAmerica, Family Histories
This past week the Washington Post published a terrific piece of investigative reporting by Julia Weil on the Coles family and what they inherited in
A Widow’s Dower
Nov 26, 2022 Family Histories, Genealogy, Women’s history
One of the most significant aspects of property law in colonial British America, which was a direct import from Britain and was largely retained in
Family Connection
Nov 16, 2022 Genealogy
Genealogy is not just an activity that people are doing now; obviously genealogical work has a history or I wouldn’t be writing a book about
The Forger’s Family Records
Nov 4, 2022 Uncategorized
With the Netflix documentary, Murder Among the Mormons, putting forger Mark Hofmann back in the news, I’m reminded of an early American connection between family