"They
were done up in a neat and compact parcel and labeled. I carried them in the
right-hand pocket of a summer overcoat, and we took the train from Washington
to Finleyville... and then a buggy for about three miles to the old farm."
This
excerpt and the rest of the story below come from one of the gems I found in
researching a Northern- Ireland-to-Pennsylvania line in my family, the
Wallaces. Few stories could better illustrate why to never take original
documents away from your desk. Many original source documents can never be
replaced and you don’t want to be the family idiot who loses them. This comes
from a 1902 genealogy written by a third-generation American John Wallace.
Genealogy
of the Wallace Family: descended from Robert Wallace of Ballymena, Ireland,
with an introduction treating of the origin of the name and locations of the
early generations in Scotland. –
John H. Wallace, 1902
“In 1897
I visited the old place again… James C. Wallace, grandson of the old soldier
James, and his excellent wife had no personal knowledge of the family history
that I was looking for, but they spoke of the grandfather's old papers, that
had been preserved and these were just what I wanted to see.
As time
was pressing, they cheerfully gave me permission to take the papers with me and
examine and return them at my leisure."
Among the
assortment John found the evidence he sought about the relationship between two
brothers, James and Ephraim Wallace.
“[T]here
were two pieces of paper furnishing written, contemporaneous evidence of the
brotherly and accommodating relations which existed between James and Ephraim.
In 1798 Ephraim and James were together in Pittsburg... This unmistakably
identifies the "long-lost brother Ephraim."
John's
eureka moment soon turns unhappy.
"There
was nothing in or about these papers that gave them either the immediate or
prospective value of one cent. They were, literally, as dead as their former
owner. They were treasured by his descendants on the old farm as mementos of
one whom they never had seen. They were generously confided to my care, and I lost them
in carrying out my purpose to deliver them with my
own hand.
They were
done up in a neat and compact parcel and labeled. I carried them in the
right-hand pocket of a summer overcoat, and we took the train from Washington
to Finleyville, in Washington County, and then a buggy for about three miles to
the old farm, and when within forty rods of the end of the drive I discovered
the parcel was gone. I was sitting on the right-hand side of the buggy, and in
jolting over a very rough road it had worked up and dropped out on the road.
Thus, in
my desire to return the papers in person I felt deeply humiliated
with its failure. I have introduced this episode here,
knowing it is out of place in a genealogy, but that my kinsmen
descended from my great-uncle James may know the exact
circumstances under which the loss occurred.”
A bit of
history was lost between Finleyville and Washington that day. The lesson is
don't be a John Wallace and you'll never have to apologize to your
descendants.
NOTE:
There was a trend, even among the middle classes, at the turn of 20th century to research and write family
history. These can often be found in local history repositories and many are
published online.
I have
discovered several useful ones by finding references to them online and then
tracking them down at local historical societies or libraries. Run a search in
Google or another search engine for the name you are researching and add to it
a relevant term such as the geographical location or associated event.
Another
way to find them is to peruse family trees shared on Ancestry.com or other online genealogy sites. Strangers
with whom you share ancestors may hold these family histories in their records.
Mine the “stories” feature attached to each relevant tree for references to or
copies of such genealogies.
