"A Slave's Story": BBC Documentary about Venture Smith of East Haddam and Haddam Neck, CT

By Paul Murphy and Joe Bilton. World Premier Screening.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

This year's program is part of the Beecher House Center for the Study of Equal Rights, the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation, in hull England, and the University of Connecticut’s ongoing Project – Documenting Venture Smith. A Slave’s Story was filmed in Connecticut in 2006 during the Project’s excavation of Venture’s family gravesite in East Haddam and the development of an extraordinary DNA map of the family.

Venture Smith was born in West Africa (as Broteer Furro) c. 1727-29 and sold into slavery in 1739. After being transshipped to New England and after years of terrible struggle, Venture purchased freedom for himself his family and several other enslaved people. He then developed a far-flung trading enterprise and became a major landholder in Haddam Neck where he died a free man in 1805.

As he outlined in his 1798 Narrative, Venture’s was an epic saga of emancipation and achievement spanning two centuries and affirming the power of the human spirit.

Program and Buffet Brunch-Luncheon at the Torrington Country Club in Goshen, CT
$45. Checks payable to Beecher House Society, Inc.

Information or reservations: 860-489-1774 or beechers@optonline.net.
Beecher House Society, PO Box 124 Torrington, CT 06790
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Related Links about Venture Smith:
Story and photos: http://www.flogris.org/exhibitions/2006/06Venture.html
Click of Listen: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6096911
Tourism: http://www.visitconnecticut.com/freedom.htm
Town Library: http://www.rathbun.lioninc.org/collection.htm#family

Schooling the Heart: Emotion at the Litchfield Female Academy

Join Martha Tomhave Blauvelt, Professor of History and Director of the Gender and Women's Studies Program at the College of St. Benedict / St. John's University for Schooling the Heart: Emotion at the Litchfield Female Academy. The lecture, based on her new book The Work of the Heart: Young Women and Emotion, 1780-1830, will take place on March 9th at 5:30 p.m. at the Litchfield History Museum. A book signing reception will immediately follow. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the museum shop for $39.50.

Blauvelt will present her case that, while the Litchfield Female Academyis considered notable for its contributions to women's intellectual development, it also taught women how to feel. She claims that its lessons in emotion were at odds with its intellectual purpose. Blauvelt examined journals, diaries, and museum objects created by the students of Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy for the publication, and used a number of images from the Historical Society's collection as illustrations.

In addition to this book, Blauvelt has published in scholarly journals such as Journal of Women's History, New York History, and Journal of Social History, and also in books of scholarly essays such as volumes 1 and 2 of Women and Religion in America (edited by Rosemary Radford Ruether, Harper and Row), and in Anxious Power: Reading, Writing, and Ambivalence in Narrative by Women, which was part of the SUNY Series in Feminist Criticism and Theory. Blauvelt earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University. She has been a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow and a Fellow for the National Historical Publication Records Commission Institute for the Editing of Historical Documents. In addition to St. John's, she has taught in the history departments of the University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University. She is currently starting a project on single women between 1780 and 1880, which will center on the sixty two year diary of Susan Heath of Brookline, Mass., and the diaries of her mother and foursisters.

Please call 860-567-4501 or e-mail cbarbacci@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org to reserve a seat for the lecture. If you have any questions about the event, please call or visit our Web site, http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.

Sawyer or Lawyer? Using the 1841-1901 British Census

Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 10:00 -12:00 PM
Speaker: Kathryn Black, Professional reseacher and CPGC Member-at-Large.

All are invited! Connecticut Professional Genealogist Council, Inc. meetings are usually held on the first Thursday of the month at 10 AM unless otherwise stated. Lecture is usually 45 minutes to an hour in length. The second hour is reserved for CPGC business.

Meet at the Emanuel Lutheran Church, 311 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, CT. Some parking in church lot and on street. Tel: 860-525-0894 (Very near the CT State Library)

Questions about meetings or joining CPGC?

Email : ctpgc@hotmail.com

African American & Native American Genealogy Program

A lecture and presentation by Dr. James M. Rose will take place on Saturday, February 17, from 10 am to 3 pm at the library, outlining the general research process followed by individual advice and consultation on a first come basis.

This program is sponsored by the Friends of Cragin and is free and open to all.

Cragin Memorial Library

8 Linwood Avenue - Route 16 Colchester, CT 06415

Phone: 860-537-5752

craginml@yahoo.com

Forgotten Money – Found!

Have you ever been a Connecticut resident (college counts too), did business in Connecticut, have clients with Connecticut connections, or have relatives from Connecticut?

Check-out this database for “unclaimed funds" at Connecticut State Treasury Unclaimed Property Owners List:” http://www.ctbiglist.com

While I tried to find forgotten money for my immediate family, I could not. However, I did find forgotten money for other relatives! Although there are many types of unclaimed funds, most of my relatives had funds coming to them from past jobs. As you would expect some funds were from jobs of long ago, yet some jobs were fairly recent. It appears that the owners had moved without forwarding addresses. One forgotten fund was nearly $700 while another was as a mere $45.

What was my reward for passing along this discovery to family? I received one big Thank You by email. No one offered to pass along a 10% finder’s fee. Well, what is family for anyway if not to help one another out with the skills we enjoy. All were surprised about the money. You or your relatives may be surprised too.

Other tips: try alternate spellings, search only surname, use surname and first initial of given name, use the % key as a wild-card.

Don’t forget to tell them … Deborah Tajmajer sent you!

Not a Connecticut resident? Check your state for similar database.

"Cyber-filing Comes of Age" How it relates to Genealogy

Free tour will be conducted by Joe Camposeo, Manchester Town Clerk.

Thursday, February 1, 2007 at 10:15 am at the Manchester Town Hall
Directions available at the town hall website.

CPGC Members will learn how Connecticut town clerks are utilizing new technologies and how that will assist genealogist with their research. Prospective members and guests are welcome to attend our genealogical programs. The Connecticut Professional Genealogical Council, Inc (CPGC) was formed in 1993 to foster excellence within the profession and provide support to professional genealogist and repositories in Connecticut.

Contact Deborah Tajmajer, Membership Chair, to request a brochure, a current list of professional researchers, an application, or to ask questions: CTPGC@hotmail.com

Are you qualified to Join the Connecticut Professional Genealogists Council, Inc?

The Connecticut Professional Genealogical Council, Inc (CPGC) was formed in 1993 to foster excellence within the profession and provide support to professional genealogist and repositories in Connecticut. CPGC is opened to those who provide genealogical services to others or manage collections of records in Connecticut. This includes; authors, researchers, librarians, lawyers, instructors, lineage society volunteers, translators, and speakers. We place CPGC brochures, with its annually updated membership list, at libraries, town halls, and at genealogical conferences.

Many meetings are held in Hartford. However, we have also hold meetings in repositories around the state such as Fairfield, Mystic, Middletown, Manchester, and Simsbury. Emails are sent to all members to keep them abreast of activities, directions, and to announce last minute happenings. If a member cannot attend a meeting, minutes and program summaries/handouts are mailed to keep them abreast of activities.

As a group, CPGC helps others. The following is only a sampling:
~ CPGC members initiated the Historic Records Preservation Act of 2000 which provides funds to Connecticut towns for the restoration and preservation of original historic records.

~ Members organize Ancestor Road Shows that are hosted by Connecticut town halls and Libraries. This is a free event where resindents can meet one-on-one with a CPGC member to help them with their family tree or research.

~ Raise funds to donate eguipment or books to Connecticut Repositories including the CT State Library, CT Historical Library and Godfrey Memorial Library.

~ This year we are preparing for a large genealogical conference (NERGC 2007) to be held at the new Conference Center in Hartford April 2007. Please visit the CPGC website for more information. http://www.rootsweb.com/~ctpgc/

Contact Deborah Tajmajer, Membership Chair, to request a brochure, an application, or ask questions: AncestorConnect@aol.com or 860-873-3330

"Two New Londons: Frances Caulkins and the New London Ladies’ Seamen’s Friend Society"

(Photo: The Shaw Mansion Historic House Museum)

January 14, 2007, 2 PM - New London Historical Society

Dr. Nancy Steenburg, presenting new research based on our manuscript collection: “Two New Londons: Frances Caulkins and the New London Ladies’ Seamen’s Friend Society".
In the 1840s, women of New London, including historian Frances Manwaring Caulkins, founded a Ladies’ Seamen’s Friend Society to aid indigent and injured sailors. At first glance the Society seemed to have laudable goals in providing a safety net for local seamen. Yet a majority of members were the wives, daughters, or sisters of the men who owned the major whaling and shipping companies in the city. Were the charity efforts of the ladies merely a salve for the consciences of their menfolk, or did the women of New London have their own agenda of reform?

Steenburg is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point. She received her AB from Harvard, MA from Trinity College, and PhD from the University of Connecticut, all in history. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowship grants, and has published widely on Connecticut history subjects. Her 2005 book, Children and the Criminal Law in Connecticut, 1635-1855: Changing Perceptions of Childhood, was recently recognized as the year’s best book on Connecticut history by the Association for the Study of Connecticut History.

Dr. Steenburg is currently working on a biography of Frances Caulkins, a pioneering female historian, whose collected papers are part of our collection. The Society, planning a new edition of Caulkins’ unmatched 1860 work, History of New London, has called upon Steenburg’s expertise to write a new introduction to the republished book. The Second Sunday presentation will share photographs and images that will provide a rare view of 19th-century New London.

Refreshments will follow the lecture. Admission is free for members of the historical society, $5 for others.

Shaw Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London, near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.



Second Sunday programs are the regular adult lecture series offered as a benefit of membership in the New London County Historical Society, and are held on the second Sundays of most months. Program admisson is free for members and $5 per person for non-members. For further information, please contact the Society at 860-443-1209. http://www.newlondonhistory.org/events.html

Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor Using Military Records at the National Archives (NARA)

The Friends of Godfrey Memorial Library and The Jewish Genealogical Society of CT are co-sponsoring a program on Sunday, January 7, 2007 at 1:30 at Godfrey Library. The Archivist Jean Nudd of the National Archives in Pittsfield will present a program. Topics include Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor at the National Archives and Using Military Records at the National Archives. There will be a break and refreshments between topics. Please call or email to reserve your place as space is limited (parking that is.)

Contact: Marcia Meyers marciarthur@sbcglobal.net

The Friends of the Godfrey Memorial Library is a non-profit organization which was formed in 1995 to support the Godfrey Memorial Library.

Mission Statement:
"The Friends of the Godfrey Memorial Library, Inc. is an association whose purpose is to foster awareness of the library and its resources, and to strengthen and help preserve this valuable resource for genealogical and historical research for future generations."

For new memberships or renewals, click HERE to open, then print the application form, fill it out and Mail it to:Friends of the Godfrey Memorial Library, Inc.
134 Newfield Street
Middletown, CT 06457-2534

http://godfrey.org/friends.htm

Preserve your Family Heritage with Nathan Hale Memorial DAR

Have you wondered if you are descended from a patriot of the American Revolution, circa 1776? Learn more about your American roots and your family's role in America History. Using modern research tools, volunteers will provide guidance and assistance with this process. Contact us for more info!

Membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) honors and preserves the legacy of your Patriot ancestor. Over two hundred years ago, American Patriots fought and sacrificed for the freedoms we enjoy today. As a member of DAR, through participation in the Society's various programs and activities, you can continue this legacy by actively supporting historic preservation, promotion of education, and patriotic endeavors.

Preserving the American Spirit Other than military service, acceptable service includes: Signers of the Declaration of Independence, civil service, nurses, Oath of Allegiance, those who rendered material aid, such as furnishing supplies, lending money to the Colonies, gunsmiths, and more.

A bit about our chapter

Nathan Hale Memorial Chapter DAR is just one of 3000 chapters in the United States. It was orgainzed in East Haddam, Connecticut on June 6, 1900. Today, our membership comprises 81 women from all over the country with the majority residing within Middlesex and New London counties. We vary our monthly meeting times and locations among the lower Connecticut River towns. Some meetings involve trips to sites across our beautiful State. We honor and remember Connecticut's State Hero, Captain Nathan Hale at our annual Saturday meeting held on or near his birthday, June 6th.

To learn more about our chapter request a brochure or read about a sampling of our programs at our website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ctnhmdar/programs.htm

Location: Greater Lower CT River Valley

Schoolhouse: Main Street, 06423 google map

Email Chapter Registrar, Deborah Tajmajer: NathanHaleDAR@aol.com

~A CELEBRATION~ Please join us for the 300th presentation of Pvt. William Webb: An African-American Connecticut Civil War Soldier

Portrayed by the State Library’s very own Kevin Johnson. January 11, 2007; 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Museum of Connecticut History’s Memorial Hall 231 Capitol Avenue ~ Hartford, CT

Remarks by Diane Smith, Host of Positively Connecticut $10 donation at the door is suggested. Donations will support the State Library and Museum of Connecticut History’s Outreach Programs. Light refreshments will be served.

Kevin Johnson is an employee of the State Library’s History and Genealogy Unit. He has been presenting William Webb for eight years and has done 299 presentations.

The Connecticut State Library provides high quality library and information services to state government and the citizens of Connecticut. It also preserves and makes accessible the records of Connecticut's history and heritage. The focus of the Museum and its collections is Connecticut's government, military and industrial history. Permanent and changing exhibits trace the growth of the State and its role in the development of the nation from the Colonial era to the present. Additional information about the State Library and the Museum of Connecticut History can be found on its Web page at http://www.cslib.org/.

REVISITING THE COLONIAL REVIVAL - “A Delightful Form of Madness”: Amer. Textiles & the Colonial Rev

Date: 1/7/2007
Location: Phelps Tavern Museum/Simsbury Historical Society
800 Hopmeadow Street Simsbury, CT 06070
Hours: 2 PM; Admission: $6.00
Contact: (860) 658-2500
Sponsor: Phelps Tavern Museum/Simsbury Historical Society

Joshua Ruff, F. Henry Berlin History Curator at The Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages, will cover the appeal of early American textiles and the contemporary wearing of and the use of colonial patterns in products made from the 1870s to the 1950s. Colonial Revival in the United States was at its height from the Philadelphia Centennial through the Depression as Americans began to romanticize their past to fit a future that included changing gender roles, immigrants, urban living and rapidly advancing technology. As in many New England towns, previously ignored homesteads in Simsbury were purchased and restored architecturally and decoratively as touchstones to an imagined past. It is the strong Colonial Revival presence in Simsbury that inspired this year’s theme.

Your Family Tree Using the Internet - Spring 2007

A hands-on exploration of Internet resources: regional websites, special databases, library catalogs, and government records. Exchange messages with long "lost" relatives or those researching your surname and locality. Determine which sources are credible and how to keep track of your discoveries. Be better prepared for your on-site research trips via the Internet.

Students will use individual computers with time set aside each class to explore favorite genealogical sites. $5 for handouts payable at first class. Length: Once a week for 6 weeks - 6:30-8:30.

Sign-up via this link http://hometown.aol.com/ancestorconnect/classes.html

Two Locations:

~ New London Adult Education at Shaw Cove computer lab.

Tuesdays: Begining March 2007. Sign-up: via the link above, phone NLAE at 860-437-2385, or email the instructor with your questions, AncestorConnect@aol.com

~ Wethersfield Adult Education at the Wetherfield High School. Wednesdays: Beginning March 2007. Sign-up: via th elink above, phone 860-571-8250, or email the instructor with your questions, AncestorConnect@aol.com

Wondering if this course for you?
Email or phone me for specifics and/or a course outline.

Other Course(s) taught: See description below and at this link:

http://hometown.aol.com/ancestorconnect/classes.html

Ask a Professional Genealogist at Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, CT

October is Family History Month.....

Just staring out? Have a brick wall? Checking to see how you are doing? Ask a professional genealogist on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2006.! All are welcomed. Four professional genealogist will be on hand to answer family history questions at the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, CT. The genealogist are members of the Connecticut Professional Genealogist Council. Staff will set aside approximatily 20 minutes per person seeking assistance with their individual projects.

Godfrey recently completed renovations to their building.The library's collection specializes in Connecticut genealogy and New England references in general. Access to the Internet will be available. They are also the host to a LDS (Morman) branch library with borrowing privilages from the main library in Utah.

Time: 10-1:00

Godfrey Memorial Library
134 Newfield Street
Middletown, CT 06457-2534
Phone: 860-346-4375

Directions:
From I-91, exit 22S onto Route 9 South. Exit 15 onto Route 66 West (also Washington Street). At fifth traffic light turn right onto Route 3 North (also Newfield Street). The Library is approximately 1/4 mile on the right.

From the North on I-95, take Exit 69 onto Route 9 North. Take Exit 15 and follow above directions.

From the South on I-95, take the I-91 North exit to exit 18 (Route 66 East),
follow Route 66 east to Route 3 North (also Newfield Street).
Turn left on Route 3. The Library is approximately 1/4 mile on the right.
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Losing Research Hours at the National Archives (NARA)

Dear Fellow Researchers,

The hour changes at NARA will affect the research needs of many of us here in Connecticut. Please see the link below to electronically sign a petition. You will be able to read what other people have said (before or after signing) about the proposed new hours and what some researchers have suggested instead.

These are the closest National Archives (NARA): Waltham (Boston) MA, Pittsfield, MA, and New York City.

Sincerely,
Deborah T.
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"NARA announced recently ( Thursday, Aug. 31) that very few genealogists have made their voices heard on the issue of the reduction of hours at the National Archives. The Federation of Genealogical Societies Records Preservation and Access Committee has prepared a statement indicating that, “This lack of response sends a loud signal to the Archives that this is not a serious issue and that closing the Archives on evenings and Saturdays is irrelevant. The RPAC has recommended the following suggestions for the Archives to consider:"

“1. To accommodate the needs of those who need access on Saturdays, we propose that you close one other day per week. This would be at your discretion. Other archives often close Sunday and Monday."

“2. Users who need evening hour access could be accommodated by opening the archives later in the day, again at your discretion."

“If you agree with the recommendations stated above, we are asking your support by immediately going on-line and adding your ‘signature’ to our petition to substitute the hours of access and still help the archives to meet their need to consolidate their hours of operation. Before 8 September 2006, please go to:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/FGS2006/petition.html
(case sensitive)

“If you would like to send your own personal letter, send it prior to 8 September 2006 and address it to:

Regulations Comments Desk (NPOL)
Room 4100, Policy and Planning Staff
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001”

Please help spread the word on this important issue by sharing it with others.
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Connecting to Connecticut Ancestor Connections

Thank you for visiting.

Sharing ancestral news in and around Connecticut.

Contact Deborah to add your Connecticut genealogical/historical event. AncestorConnect@aol.com

Where did you come from? Are you in need of a researcher?

This link is to Deborah's Historical and Genealogical Research Service business website. Discovering the Past to Connect with the Future! http://hometown.aol.com/ancestorconnect

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Deborah T. in CT