HUNTS FOR ANCESTORS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20112, 24 November 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

HUNTS FOR ANCESTORS.

PASTIME IN WINTER.

* AMERICA'S OPEN SEASON,

SEARCH FOR FAMILY TREES.

ANCIENT AND MUSTY RECORDS,

The open season in the United .States for ancestor hunting is about to begin. When tho last vacationist returns and the first leaf falls and it appears that the winter days are coming again the genealogists, amateur and professional, pour into the libraries and historical societies for their annual hibernation with tlio musty records of the births and deaths of bygono worthies. An important rendezvous for tlicso people, says the New York Herald Tribune, is tho massive brown building of the Long Island Historical Society, at Brooklyn, whoso cloistered alcoves contain more information about the present generation's forebears than any other space within four walls in the country. The library staff is preparing now for tho winter's " v . ity. .

Respov * --'ties always follow the attainment . i 'pre-eminence in any field, such as that enjoyed bv the modest but impressive Long Island Historical Society. But for ' Mies Emma Toedteberg, the librarian of the society, this responsibility holds no terrors, as she has been in charge of the library for many years and has seen the genealogical 1 interest of the American people grow from a polite and casual desire to know about one's greatgrandfather'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 Toedteberg has learned to distinguish tha genuine inquirer for genealogical, facts from the smooth charlatans who will supply any one with' a family tree for the proper consideration. There are less of these gentry about now, she ijaygj than there were a few years ago, and the ;great majority of the inquiries and inquirers that conie to the - Long Island Historical Society from all parts of - the country are bona-nde 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 tho rapid increase in the ranks of both the genuine, genealogists and the professional family-tree makers. \ • Those whd pass "their days now poring over the records in the iibrary'of the Brooklyn society, Miss -Toedteberg says, are mainly professionals seeking' th<s facts that will gain admission for someone into the Daughters or Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of Revolution, Colonial Dames or similar organisations. Many individuals come, too, from all sections of the Country to .search the books 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 the purpose of " m;pmoting historical science." Local pride gave it its original impetus, for there were innumerable records of early Dutch, English and even French settlements on the island to be investigated and tabulated and placed in history beside the historic purchase of the neighbouring island, of Manhattan by Peter Minuit from the Indians.

The scope of the society was soon broadened. The present imposing building was erected in 1880 on land purchased in 1856 and the assembling of the truly remarkable library and collection of liisr toric relics begun. Without conscious plan the genealogical side of the library developed into its most important department, overshadowing the other valuable sections so much that a great wealth of historical' material on other subjects is not being utilised as it should be.

In the shelves devoted to genealogy are more than 7000 volumes on family histories, innumerable typewritten volumes of family records, original pages of • old Bibles with theip accounts of births arid deaths, letters, family documents and copies of graveyard inscriptions. Forty-six Smith Families. '

There. are volumes of 500 and mors pages on single families. The history of the Stillwells runs to 980 pages and that of the Boones to 700. Forty-six branches of tho Smith family are recorded, thirtyfive of the Clarks and twenty-seven of the Adams clan. Those families that require twenty or more volumes for the description of their lineage are too numerous to mention.

This section of the society's library is said by genealogists to be superior to tho genealogical division of the Library of Congress and to surpass even the Now England Historical Society's collection, which is of much earlier origin and has the vast army of the descendants of the Mayflower's passenger list to contend with.

While the society has 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 are the " Royal Collection " of forty-nine volumes, printed under tho direction of Louis XIV. for presentation by tliq Royal Family; the elephant folio volumes of Audubon's " Birds of America," with engravings all in colour and life-size; many rare medieval manuscripts and books; a "Life of Molicre," 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 ill-fated Major Anflro of tho English Army at tho time of tho American Revolution. More Than 100,000 Books. Most of the museum piecos of the society have been transferred to the Brooklyn Museum to allow space for tho more than 100,000 books that fill tho cases in a dignified, quiet, old-fashioned library that has few counterparts in America, and resembles more than anything else a library of an Oxford college. Now that tho winter is coming on, Miss Toedteberg, tho librarian, looks forward to busy days as the genealogists foregather. " These people aro making good in their work," she says. " There is a constant and increasing interest in genealogical studies and tho professional workers say that 'they have more work than they can attend to. There aio more of them to-day than yesterday, more this week than last week. It looks like a busy winter."