Hard at work~

Been doing a complete overhaul my Barkhamsted Lighthouse research/work – I have for the past couple of months been going thru each & everyone of James and Molly’s children and trying to prove as much as I can along with a much needed clean up of sourcing on these lines – I am also going thru each fact and making sure it is up to date and adding what needs to be added – a lot of work but gonna be worth it once all the piece are finally in place~

I have to update ALL my research books – so much is happening and so much has been collected – so much has changed – My main focus at this time is the Barkhamsted Lighthouse People – We have Susan Shepard who is hot on the trail of Samuel Chagum’s story and has been uncovering things right and left – truly can’t wait to see what she has in store for us~

So many people have come forward to help with this research and so many has shared so much – it has been amazing at all that is being collected – but there is only 1 me and each and every document is scanned, edited and then added to my files – takes time but so worth the effort – I am truly seeing the whole story come together! We are close! We are very very close to unraveling the Lighthouse People~ Thank you to all that contribute! Without you – we wouldn’t be this far!

Ken Feder contacted me the other day with exciting news! He is coming out with the 2nd edition to his “Village of Outcast” and he is also including me in this edition – He has been a tremendous help in my research and I will never be able to thank him enough for all he has truly done to help us unravel the ‘story’ of our Barkhamsted Lighthouse Ancestors also~

I am presently on a quest to find some type of obit/write up on James Chagum’s death – being who and what they were – seems to me there HAS to be something abt his death – it was in 1790 in Litchfield Connecticut (possibly Hartford) – it goes into “old newspapers” status and not many online – I have been in contact via email with

Linda Hocking  – Curator of Library & Archives – Litchfield Historical Society

P.O. Box 385 – Litchfield, CT 06759

http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org

Email from Linda Hocking to me – Feb 18

Coni,

A few other thoughts that you may have already explored- the office of the state archaeologist; they came from Wethersfield, newspapers in that area may have an obit. I will say the Monitor is sporadic at best, the editor once wrote a note to a local businessman asking for money to buy paper- it was not a profitable operation. It also was aimed at people in the town, so other towns show up occasionally, but it’s not frequent. When you search, use lots of alternate spellings- the OCR wasn’t great plus as you probably know there’s not much in the way of standard spelling at that time. I saw that you already were in contact w/ the Barkhamsted HS and the IAIS in Washington, and looks like you might have been to the state library. It might also be worth checking the Museum of Connecticut History in Hartford.

If there are subsequent generations who may have a connection to Litchfield (town) there may be something in our archives or artifact holdings- you can search those here: http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/archon/ and http://collection.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/collection/search/. If any of them attended the law school or female academy, there’s a database of students- http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/.

Were any of them involved in military service? If so, National Archives might have something, or the state library.  Also, as you may have learned, Connecticut has so many small historical societies, collections in public libraries, churches, etc. I would say try all the town halls and churches you think might have anything, as well as the probate court. You’d be surprised how many prominent people there are no papers for because they get divided among descendants, and then further divided with subsequent generations until there’s nothing but a letter here and a photo there.

The state library is digitizing CT newspapers, but are going for the major metropolitan areas. We are still trying to figure out how to fund ours. It’s going to cost over $16,000 and that’s just to digitize them, and it’s a weekly. That’s not even considering the long term care and preservation of the digital files or Web hosting or a database to access them in. We will find a way eventually! Hopefully I had one idea or two that you haven’t tried already. Now that I’m aware of it, I will keep my eyes open- if anything turns up I will let you know.

Best,

Linda

They have been a tremendous help – I have lots of info and suggestions on where to find a possible write up on James Chagum – will take a ride to local University to access database but doable!

One other note – A LOT is also going on with my Uncle Russ Allen’s DNA – I am in several projects and more are daily contacting – still confused on the whole DNA stuff but little by little getting it figured out – many are helping to understand it~ SO as you see I have been hard at work trying to get everything sorted out but know that I am steadily working at uncovering the story of out Native American Ancestors and all that touched their lives~

Coni

Via email Dick Allen to me – Feb 13