Drew Archival Library

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13 Responses

1. on March 10, 2010 at 12:53 pm | Reply Barbara Phillips

   I have an old family genealogy from my deceased mother’s papers. My great-great-great grandfather is Dr. Rufus Hathaway.
   I also have a letter my grandmother wrote to her cousin about the Hathaway house she visited as a child.
   It also shows that our ancestry goes back to John and Priscilla Alden.
   I would like to update and verify the info I have. I’m a novice, could you give me some direction?
   Thank You,
   Barbara

   
   
2. on March 10, 2010 at 3:12 pm | Reply drewarchives

   Barbara,
   Please email me at the archives at cravenscroft@duxburyhistory.org and we can discuss the Hathaway family. I have a large genealogical chart for the family going back to England. I also have many Hathaway letters in the Smith McLauthlin Collection.

   
   
3. on March 28, 2010 at 5:09 am | Reply Wendy Hawksley

   I am writing to inquire as to whether or not you have the diary of Captain Alexander Sampson in your holdings.

   Alexander Sampson was asked to join Rufus Holmes and my great-great-great grandfather, William W. Winsor, in Port Angeles, Washington sometime around 1857-1859. While we know that Rufus Holmes returned to Duxbury and died there in 1893, I do not know what became of William Winsor after 1860, when he was a lighthouse keeper at Tatoosh Island, off of Port Angeles. His wife and daughters later moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

   I have been in touch with the reference librarians of the Clallam County Historical Society in Washington, and they do not have a record of William Winsor after he became the lighthouse keeper at Tatoosh Island.

   Captain Sampson wrote letters to his father back home in Duxbury and maintained a diary. I was hoping that his diary might be part of your holdings. The diary is mentioned in a June 13, 2001 article in the “Duxbury Clipper”, entitled “A Journey Down Surplus Street, Part III: Generations”.

   
   
   • on January 3, 2012 at 11:06 pm | Reply Mary

     http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=8210

     
     
4. on July 29, 2010 at 3:47 am | Reply Lynn Hyde

   I am on a wild goose chase, triggered by the biography of Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley (daughter of Gamaliel Bradford) by Joan Goodwin. Joan Goodwin passed away in 2006 and all her papers have vanished. She had made transcripts of a vast number of papers of Sarah and Samuel Ripley’s family, which Goodwin had found in the barn of Frances Ames Randall in Duxbury (on the hunch of the latter’s nephew John W. Ames).

   They included letters of the Ripley and Thayer families all the way back to at least the 1810s. After transcribing the letters in the 1950s and then returning them to Mr. Ames, Goodwin lost track of the family. Now that her papers are gone, too, the “Duxbury” papers have disappeared twice.

   Frances Ames Randall also had papers of James Bradley Thayer, Sarah’s son-in-law. These papers are sited in a 1954 academic article as “in the possession of Frances Ames Randall, Duxbury, MA.”

   It’s hard to believe that such heavily borrowed papers would have ever been thrown out. My hope is that now with the internet, those original “Duxbury Papers” of Frances Ames Randall might be found. Do any of these names or papers ring a bell with you?

   I’d appreciate any leads you might have.
   Thanks, Lynn

   
   
5. on October 23, 2010 at 1:08 pm | Reply Kathleen Weatherly

   My grandfather John J. McLaughlin or leased the land and built the last house on the end of Pine Point Rd. next to the Duxbury Association Beach on Gurnet Rd. back in the early 1920′s and sold it to Robert McLaughlin his brother.

   I found a record through the Plymouth Suff. County Registry of Deeds showing that Robert McLaughlin paid $10,000, to Alice Dutson; and Robert was my Great Uncle and Alice was my Great Aunt back in 1936. Then I found that the cottage was built in 1940 through the property records what I can’t find was when my grandfather sold it to my Great Uncle Robert McLaughlin.

   I am wondering if Duxbury may have it on file manually.

   Amazingly during all the Northeasters and severse storms all these years this is the last house still standing.

   In your archives can you locate such a deed or record of this for me.

   Thanks for your help.

   Kathleen Weatherly
   Orlando, FL

   
   
6. on February 8, 2011 at 12:26 pm | Reply Jeffrey McKeen

   I’m looking for information about Capt. Parker Hall, whom I believe was born in Kingston, MA and may have died in Duxbury.

   
   
7. on May 14, 2011 at 10:15 pm | Reply Nancy Konkolewski

   My gg grandmother is Laura Loring, daughter of William Loring, Jr. who is the son of William Loring, Sr. and Althea Alden of Pembroke. I am interested on any info. or pictures. I have old bible records and pictures also.

   I have also recently discovered that the William Loring house in Pembroke is possibly going to be condemned. This house needs to be saved. Who do I contact? Please help.

   Thank you,
   Nancy

   
   
8. on June 7, 2011 at 2:28 pm | Reply Ismenio Sousa

   Hello,

   I am researching a certain person who immigrated to Brazil around the time of the civil war. Her name was arah Bellona Smith Ferguson. Is there any chance I can have access to texts, letters, records, etc. related to her and her story?

   Best regards,

   Ismenio – Pittsburgh, PA

   
   
   • on June 7, 2011 at 9:46 pm | Reply drewarchives

     Dear Ismenio,
     I am not familiar with Sarah Bellona Smith Ferguson. Was she born in Duxbury? I do not believe the Drew Archival Library has any material relating to her.

     
     
9. on June 7, 2011 at 4:04 pm | Reply Burt Risser

   Thomas Hayward emigrated from England with his wife to Massachusetts on the ship Hercules of Sandwich in 1634. Reportedly, he and subseqent Hayward descendants lived in the same house in Duxbury for 140 years. Do you have information about the location of the Hayward home or other information about Thomas Hayward ancestors that lived in Duxbury? I am researching both the Hayward and Low families who were early residents of the Duxbury, Bridgewater, Plymouth areas. My wife and I are making a driving trip to Duxbury from our home in Fallbrook, CA (near San Diego) and would appreciate any information you can provide.
   Thank you, and look forward to your reply.

   Burt Risser

   
   
10. on March 3, 2012 at 9:31 am | Reply Jonne' DeLano Adams

    I am inquiring as to what you may have in your Archives related to my ancestor Philippe de Lannoy who moved from Plymouth to Duxbury in 1634. I see you list information about his descendants Samuel DeLano Jr and Amas DeLano, But there seems to be so little out there about Phillipe other than how and when he came to Plymouth and then Duxbury.

    Thank You,

    Jonne’ DeLano Adams

    
    
    • on March 23, 2012 at 10:28 am | Reply drewarchives

      We have some Delano family information but nothing specifically created by or about Philippe. You may be interested to know that his original land grant is located directly across the street from the Drew Archives.