The next meeting of the Windham County Genealogy Interest Group will focus on doing “Searching Beyond Vital Records ” & “Researching the Westminster Massacre,” on Saturday, Nov. 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Zoom only. This event is free and open to all. Please register at this link bit.ly/WCGIGregister. A Zoom link will be sent before the meeting. Pose any questions that you may have for the presenters when you register.
Researching an ancestor when the paper trail of vital records disappears becomes more difficult, but there are strategies to find alternate information. Using his research into one of his great great grandparents as an example, Wayne Blanchard will present some of the things he learned in a recent course about breaking down genealogical brick walls. Although the course included such issues as finding an ancestor’s origins, uncovering a maiden name, discovering where a family moved, his interest is in determining parentage. The challenge is not only finding alternative sources but also analyzing the information and resolving conflicting data.
Jessie Haas will talk about her process in researching the Westminster Massacre for her book “Revolutionary Westminster” (The History Press, 2011). The Massacre is an extremely well-documented event yet is commonly misunderstood and inaccurately described even by historians.
Haas states, “A close reading of primary documents; knowing that Benjamin Hall, author of ‘A History of Eastern Vermont’ was a grandson of Westminster and steeped in local oral history; and now looking at the events imaginatively in writing a novel about them, have given me an understanding that the Massacre was a thoroughly revolutionary event in a line running from the Massachusetts Farmers Rebellion and the Powder Alarm to the battles of Lexington and Concord. I will talk about that, and my sheer luck in having the Brooks Memorial Library and my dad’s personal collection to work from, as well as state archives in New York and Vermont.
Haas is the author of 41 books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children and adults. Her forthcoming book, “Dearest Blood,” tells the story of the Westminster Massacre through the eyes of 15-year-old Fanny Allen, then Montusan, who lived near the courthouse at the time. It picks up again eight years later, when Fanny, a young widow, meets and marries Ethan Allen in Westminster. Find out more at jessiehaas.com
The Windham County (Vermont) Genealogy Interest Group is an informal organization whose members are dedicated to genealogy education, research and best practices. Meetings are held every other month on Zoom. Many of these sessions were recorded and are available on the WCGIG YouTube Channel, bit.ly/WCGIGVIDEO, which cover topics such as improving your search results in FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com; using family tree software; navigating the crowd-sourced cemetery database, Find A Grave; using land records for genealogy research; using AmericanAncestors.org, the database of the New England Historic Genealogical Society; finding people in the newly released 1950 U.S. Census.
WCGIG is also supported by Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro, Vermont with use of its Zoom account, publicity, and use of their facilities. We also thank Anne Dempsey, Librarian at the Rockingham Public Library, for their past support.
