Article and Preserving History

     It is very exciting to see my name in print - both as author of: "Water: Both Life and Death to the Beckington Family," AND seeing it as one of the featured articles listed on the cover of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly. It appears in Vol. 46, No. 4, Winter 2014 issue. It turned out looking good as well as an interesting read (bragging here a bit). Thank you to Managing Editor, Julie Tarr, for all her help. Also, Rebekah (Beckington) Fleury, a cousin, for her support and help with many of the footnotes and proofreading. I also appreciate all the editing help from my writers group "Writers on Wheels." It is a story of the Beckington's journey to the United States from England in 1847. Most of it is true and backed by stories written and passed down. There is a link on my website so you can enjoy reading it.

     On another note: I received a phone call the other day from a man in the DC area. He had been searching online for anyone connected with a Matthew Gault Emery. Mr. Emery is in my genealogy database and on my website. He is connected to the Hazeltons. He was born in 1818 in New Hampshire, but spent most of his life in the DC area. He married Mary Kittredge Hazeltine probably around 1853, youngest of eight children of William and Abigail (Emery) Hazeltine. You can put his name into Wikipedia and find out quite a bit about him.  He was the last Mayor of DC (1870-1871). It was 104 years before DC once again elected a Mayor. Matthew also served as Marshall of Abraham Lincoln's inaugural parade in 1860. He died in 1901. He has even more accomplishments and it is an interesting read. Check it out! His wife, Mary, is my 2nd cousin, 6x removed!  Just sayin'.....

     The reason for this man's call to me is that he helped an elderly lady many years ago clean out her attic before downsizing. She let him have a few papers that they found. Among them was the "Certificate of Indebtedness for Paving Pennsylvania Avenue," stamp -dated December, 1871. It is signed by M. G. Emery. It is a blank form, so not sure of the significance of it or what purpose it served. Maybe other similar forms were filled in and given to those that participated in the paving. This man would like to sell it. I suggested giving it to an Historical Society. He says he has tried and they are not interested, but I don't know if money was required before handing it over to them. I did find a descendant of Mr. Emery's and contacted him via email. He had already heard from this man. Hopefully the Certificate will not just disappear. History needs to be preserved!