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Genealogists Collect Ancestors

by Rosemary Lee Potter
Special to Tropical Breeze

Coming from a family with great interest in its forebears, it was intriguing for me to receive an e-mail from a Collecting Adventures reader, Ann James of the Palm Harbor Genealogy Society, Inc. Her group’s slogan is: “Together We Will Climb Our Family Trees.” Ann asked if I would be interested in talking with her and other society members in that, she said, “We collect ancestors!”

Tropical Breeze photos by Rosemary Potter Ann James with her grandfather’s magic memorabilia.

A sharing of collecting ancestors adventures began very soon one rainy evening at the Palm Harbor Public Library. First I just asked who might have a story to tell about their quest. So many folks volunteered and later shared with me that I could have written several columns.

Passions run high in these hunts for family information, just as in so many searches for specific collectibles. Genealogical “collecting” does not run to only to searching history books and online databases. Each of the active research genealogists who talked with me brought in some physical items related to their ongoing and emerging studies of their family histories — items which are desirable in the rest of the collecting world, whether related to the owner’s family or not!

Nancy Allen with a sample of books, papers and records from her family’s long-time Plainfield, Massachusetts home.

A Touch of Magic! — Ann James, involved now in genealogical research for 14 years, was pleased to show me her collection of professional magician’s items related to her grandfather Louis Schwartz, born in 1868. Schwartz was a professional magician for years in Albany, NY. Accordingly Ann cherishes a rare poster about Schwartz’s performances, including framed programs, clippings, and a photo, as well as a related scrapbook. She enjoyed pointing to each item with the wand that her grandfather used on stage. She’s enjoying doing magic tricks herself, truly a family tradition, in that she performs in many places, including children’s parties. I also learned from her that there is an Antique Magic Collectors Association.

Marianne Davis proudly displays her grandmother’s intricate and helpfully artistic family genealogy book.

Grandfather’s Research — Society member Howard T. Smith, Clearwater, announced he’d had great-grandfathers on both sides of the Civil War. He had first become interested in learning more about his family tree when in the 1950s he went to help his younger sister with her physical rehabilitative exercise, as they transcribed many pages of family tree information compiled by their grandfather, Emory Spencer Smith. The grandfather had obtained the data by attending family reunions for four separate family name branches every summer for years. Today’s Smith has been an active genealogical researcher for 50 years!

A Town Clerk’s Records — Nancy Allen of Dunedin told an unusual story of her family home in Plainfield, MA, which once held the history of that town. Her great-grandfather, grandfather and even her mother, briefly, were town clerks. Her aunt was town clerk for 26 years! Since in those days, the records were kept at home, even today people knock on the door to look for information they suppose is still stored there. Nancy says all the records are now stored in the town offices situated in the old elementary school.

Besides those public records, over the years Nancy and her family have found many letters and photos, as well as a wonderful, handwritten cookbook. She knows there were talented ladies, probably seamstresses, living in the house as she’s found her great-great aunt Sophie’s needlebook and also six pattern books from 1896-1898, as well a butter mold and much more. No wonder Nancy’s working on a family inventory at that family home, in which her mother resided from a young teen until her middle-age. Nancy lived there too until she was ten.

Lewis Harris holds an 1834 Eli Whitney family gun said to once belong to his cousin in the Northern Army during the Civil War.

A Box of Pretty Greeting Cards — Charlotte Nielsen of Palm Harbor told me that since the 1990s she has been tracking her grandfathers’ family names, Tucker and Butler. In the Palm Harbor Public Library there’s a book about the Mead family which was connected with the Butler side of her family. Through interlibrary loan she obtained another book about the Wanamaker family of Pennsylvania — this data from her mother’s mother’s side. That’s how she learned the most about her family tree.

She learned from her mom’s oldest sister that her grandmother traveled to Iowa from Wisconsin in a covered wagon. Among many family heirlooms she cherishes are two photo albums of her ancestors and a box of colorful, highly-collectible postal and greeting cards from the early 1900s which were her mother’s. They are kept securely in their original wooden box and on a high, dark bookshelf for protection.

An Artistic Family Tree — Marianne Davis’s grandmother, an artist and painter in Findlay, OH, in the 1930s, created a large graphic history of the Horn family, showing four generations, including early ancestors in Germany (1835) and the branches of the graphic tree that came to early America. Her grandmother lived at her house with her when she drew it. Thus her mother had it and then Marianne inherited. Since then she has given copies of the book to other cousins, a book which actually inspired her to research her complete family’s genealogy.

A sample of the works of distant cousin, J.T. Trowbridge, are shown by Pat Johnson.

My Cousin, The Author — Pat Johnson, Tarpon Springs, who has been doing genealogical research for 15-20 years, seems like the only one in her family who’s into collecting — in particular — the complete books of J.T. Trowbridge. Trowbridge, an eighth cousin, three times removed, (as Pat’s determined via an ancestry chart), wrote more than 100 books for young adults. Pat so far owns but 25, as well as his autobiography. She says her cousin lived in Massachusetts and worked in New York, writing for Atlantic Monthly Magazine.

Family Tradition Gun — Lewis Harris, 25 years interested in genealogical research, relates that it all began when a distant relative came to interview his mom and dad about family and then wrote a book about his dad’s mother’s family named Bratton. Currently Lewis is updating that title, while working on another book about his own Harris family.

While waiting his interview turn, Lewis stood holding a long gun complete with bayonet. The gun bears the name of manufacturer Eli Whitney and the date 1834. Family tradition has it that the weapon belonged to Edwin Sneider, a distant cousin in the Northern Army who died of dysentery in New Orleans.

Two photo albums and a box of early greeting cards are shared by the collector Charlotte Nielsen.

There were many others with great stories and items. I hope to visit again some day and hear and share more.

For any collector, whether a collector of family history information or other items, each new input of information, a date, a matching name or location that turns up is exciting. Each such moment spurs these researchers on. Along the way it is not surprising that family heirlooms join the many pages of carefully gleaned information.

This is officially Family History Month. Have you gathered any new knowledge about your folks? The library is a great place to start. There are numerous websites related to this pursuit in general — and probably for your specific family name! For starters visit: www.familyhistorymonth.org.

© 2006 Rosemary Lee Potter. All Rights Reserved.

Rosemary Lee Potter is a confirmed victim of the collecting bug and can be reached by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or write to her in care of Tropical Breeze, P.O. Box 585, Safety Harbor, FL 34695.