HUNTS FOR ANCESTORS

Evening Star, Issue 20049, 14 December 1928, Page 8

HUNTS FOR ANCESTORS

PASTIME IN.WINTER AMERICA’S OPEN SEASON i Tlio open season in Iho United States for ancestor limiting is about to begin. When the last vacationist returns, and the first leaf falls, and it appears that the winter days arc coming again, the genealogists, amateur and professional, pour into the libraries and historical societies for their animal hibernation with the musty records of the births and deaths of bygone worthies. An important rendezvous for these people, says the*New York ‘Herald Tribune,’ is the massive brown building of the Long Island Historical Society, at Brooklyn, whose cloistered alcoves contain more information about the present generation’s forbears than any other space within four walls in the country. The library staff is preparing now for the winter’s activity. Responsibilities always follow the attainment of pre-eminence in any field, such as that enjoyed by the modest but impressive Long Island Historical Society. But for Miss Emma Tocdteberg, the librarian of the society, this responsibility holds no terrors, as she Jins been in charge of the library for many years, and lias seen the genealogical interest of the American people grow from a polite and casual desire to know about one’s great-grandfather’s several marriages into a flourishing profession which yearly draws more and more men and women, principally women, into its fold. CHARLATANS ON THE DECLINE. From her years of experience Miss Tocdteberg lias learned to distinguish the genuine inquirer for genealogical facts from the smooth charlatans who will supply any one with a family tree for the proper consideration. There are loss of these gentry about now, she says, than there were a few years ago. ami the great majority of the inquiries and inquirers that come to the Long Island Historical Society from all parts of the country are bonafido ones. Interest among Americans in the personalities and incidents of their family histories gained a great impetus from the war, and the patriotic spirit it engendered. Many wanted to establish an irreproachable American background and form connections with various patriotic societies which demanded proofs of long native lineage. Some desired merely an imposing array of more or less distinguished ancestors. Hence the interest in societies and libraries with genealogical records, and the rapid increase in the ranks of Iwth the genuine genealogists and the professional family tree makers. Those who pass their days now poring over the records in the library of the Brooklyn Society, Miss Tocdteberg says, are mainly professionals seeking the facts that will gain admission for someone into the Daughters or Sons of the American Resolution, Sons of Revolution, Colonial Dames, nr similar organisations. Many individuals come, too, from all sections of the country to search the hooks and manuscripts, the records from tombstone inscriptions and family Bibles for knowledge of missing generations in their family histories. SOCIETY FOUNDED IN 1863. The Long Island Historical Society began in a modest way on March 3, 1863, when a group of Brooklyn’s prominent citizens gathered in the rooms of the Hamilton Literary Association and organised the society for tho purpose of “promoting historical science.’’ Local pride gave it its orginial impetus, for there were innumerable records of early Dutch, English, and even French settlements on the island to ho investigated and tabulated and placed in history beside tho historic purchase of the neighbouring island of Manhattan by Peter Minuit from tho Indians. The scope of the society was soon broadened. Tho present imposing building was erected in 1880 on land purchased in 1860, and the assembling of the truly remarkable library and collection of historic relics begun._ Without conscious plan tho genealogical side of the library developed into its most important department, overshadowing the other valuable sections so much that a groat wealth of historical material on other subjects is not being utilised as it should he. In the shelves devoted to genealogy are more than 7,000 volumes on family histories, innumerable typewritten volumes of family records, original pages of old Bible with their accounts of births and deaths, letters, family documents, and copies of graveyard inscriptions, FORTY-SIXTH SMITH FAMILIES. There aro volumes of and more pages on single families. Tho history of the Stillwells runs to 980 pages, and that of the Boones to 700. Forty-six branches of tho Smith family aro recorded, thirty-five of the Clarks, and I wcnlt-scvcn of tho Adam clan. These families that require' twenty or more volumes for the description of their lineage aro too numerous to mention. This .section of tho society’s library is said by genealogists to bo.superior to the genealogical division of the Library of Congress, and to surpass even tho Now England Historical Society's collection, which is of much earlier origin and lias the vast army of,tho descendants of tho Mayflower's passenger list to contend with. While tho society lias gained renown as a mine of genealogical information, it is in purpose a general library of historical reference, and, _ incidentally, a museum containing priceless relics and mementos of American and general history. Among its treasures aro the “Royal Collection” of forty-nine volumes, printed under the direction of Louis XI.Y. for presentation by tho Royal Family; tho elephant folio volumes of Audubon’s 1 Birds of America,’ with engravings all in colour and life size; many rare medieval manuscripts and books; A ‘Life of Moliere,’ written by Voltaire and in his own handwriting; 123 original letters of George Washington from tho collection of Edward Everett; Daniel Denton’s ‘New York,’ printed in 1670, and a liquor glass—cocktail size—once owned and presumably used by the illfated Major Andre of the English Army at the time of the American. Revolution. MORE THAN 100,000 BOOKS. Most of the museum pieces of the Society have been transferred to tho Brooklyn Museum to allow space for tho more than 100,000 books that fill the cases in a dignified, queit, oldfashioned library that has few counterparts in America, and resembles more than anything else a library of an Oxford college. Now that the winter is coming on, Miss Tocdteberg, the librarian, looks forward to busy days as tho genealogists foregather. “These people aro making good in their work,” sho says. “ There is a. constant and increasing interest in genealogical studies, and the professional workers say that they, have more worn than they can attend to. There-arc more of them to-day than yesterday, more this week than last, week. It looks like a busy winter.”'