MICHIGAN FAMILY TRAILS : Hall history

Showing posts with label Hall history. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

WEDDING WEDNESDAY ~ A marriage record, of sorts, for Dr. Jeremiah Hall & Elizabeth Bailey

History of First Cong Church of Hanover Mass 1727-1865_pg 90_blk&wht_enh_annotated

Reference to the marriage of Jeremiah Hall & Elizabeth Baily

As you know from my previous post Dr. Jeremiah Hall writes a letter to George Washington, I’ve been researching this line of our Hall ancestors. In doing so, I’ve been trying to locate as many vital records, probate records or other documentation for their lives, as I can.

The one thing I couldn’t locate was a marriage record for Dr. Jeremiah Hall to Elizabeth Bailey. I had a research note in my database from 2009 that stated I had located a reference to their marriage at the New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS) website as follows:

“Hall, Jeremiah 1722 Wrentham 1807 Pembroke Pembroke HR 1785, 1775FS, 1775MS, 1779C; moderator 1780, 82, 83; major, lieut. colonel; M Elizabeth Bailey (c1730-1816) in 1747, 9 ch; MD. Served in the Revolution. He attended the HR sessions and accepted from one to four committee assignments. Wrentham VR 108; Pembroke VR 98, 410; DAR-PIc 1275; IGI for marr at Hanover; Hanover VR 21”

I found other references to their marriage, but no actual records. Surprising, since Massachusetts is one of our states that has lots of historical records online.

What Did I Do Next?

Something I frequently do, I went to Facebook and asked my fellow researchers if they had or knew of a marriage record for this couple. In this case I went directly to a group I belong to, dedicated to Hall families from New England. You can go to that group by clicking here.

The value of joining Facebook groups cannot be overstated. There are thousands of groups dedicated to genealogy research. They range from surname groups to state, county or city groups. Please refer to my link at the end of this post, about joining genealogy Facebook groups.

I posted my question about the marriage record last night, and by this morning, I had several responses, one of which gives an actual reference to a record of the marriage.

Here’s how I worded my question. I like to begin any posts of this sort with a specific statement as to what I’m looking for. This allows anyone who wouldn’t be able to help to scroll right past my post and not waste time reading it.

Re: Marriage record of Dr. Jeremiah Hall & Elizabeth Bailey.
Hello Hall families - I've been working hard on the Hall side of the family this past few days. I can locate many vital records on Ancestry for the Massachusetts Halls. However, I have been unable to locate a marriage record for Dr. Jeremiah Hall to Elizabeth Bailey circa 1748. The first child I have for them was born in 1753. It looks like all the children were born in Pembroke.
Do any of you have that marriage record? Or know where I might find it? Thanks!

One of the responses led me to a book, located on archive.org. This book is downloadable or you can just search right on the site. The name of the book is History and Records of the First Congregational Church of Hanover, Mass. 1727-1865.

I located the reference to the marriage on page 90 of Volume I.

1747-48
December 22 Jeremiah Hall and Elizabeth Baily, Junr

both of Hanover

This is by no means a primary source. However, it may be possible to view an actual church record, rather than this reference to the record. Would they be available on microfilm? That’s something I will check. An initial search of the FHL catalog has so far come up empty. However, I will continue to look.

I will be writing more about this branch of the Hall family in upcoming posts.

Please contact me if you are related to anyone mentioned in this post or any of my other posts.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

TUESDAY'S TIP - How to Save a Book from Archive.org to Evernote or your Computer

Facebook - How it can be very useful in your research

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Saturday, July 2, 2016

DR. JEREMIAH HALL WRITES TO GEORGE WASHINGTON ~ Celebrating Our Founding Fathers

This photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and is considered public domain

A letter from my husband’s 4th great granduncle to George Washington!

What a fantastic find this was on the weekend that we celebrate the independence of our country and remember our founding fathers.

Let me give full credit to the Facebook group Hall Families of New England. And to Cheryl Hall who shared this find with all of us in the group.

Dr. Jeremiah Hall is my husband’s 4th great granduncle. He is the son of Capt. Jeremiah Hall & Dorothy Hill.

Dr. Hall was born 11 Jun 1722 in Wrentham, Colonial Massachusetts. He married Elizabeth Bailey in 1748. My husband Ron is a direct descendant of Dr. Jeremiah Hall’s brother, Jesse Hall.

I wrote about Dr. Jeremiah Hall & his wife Elizabeth Bailey Hall on October 27th, last year. You can read that post here Tombstone Tuesday - Dr. Jeremiah Hall – Massachusetts

Apparently, Dr. Jeremiah Hall was a member of the Provincial Congress and General Court and became a Lieutenant Colonel in the Plymouth County militia in 1776.

Source
Force, American Archives, 4th ser., 3:1378.
Jeremiah Hall (1722–1807), a physician from Pembroke, Mass., served in the provincial congress and general court and became a lieutenant colonel in the Plymouth County militia in 1776.

Here is a screen shot of the page from the National Archives site, with partial redaction for copyright purposes. You may read the entire letter by going to this site To George Washington from Jeremiah Hall, 6 November 1775

Here’s a little bit about the Massachusetts Provincial Congress from Wikipedia.

Dr. Hall & his wife Elizabeth had 7 known children: Dorothy, Lawrentia, Lucretia, Jeremiah Jr., Bailey, Sarah and Lucinda.

Could you be descended from any of them? If so, please contact me, I’d love to hear from you.

More references to our Dr. Jeremiah Hall can be found as follows:

A Historical Sketch of the Town of Hanover, Mass with Family Genealogies by John Stetson Barry, published 1853

North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000

Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988

What connections do you have to our founding fathers? I’m still searching for any ancestral connections to them, and will let you know when I find one.

Enjoy celebrating our countries independence this weekend.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Saturday, February 28, 2015

A BOX FULL OF TREASURES, SIGNATURES & MORE

Yesterday I noticed that I did not have a signature saved for my husband’s father, Gordon Charles Hall. Gathering the signatures of ancestors is one of my favorite things to do. I wrote a post about them, what they mean and where to find them back in December 2013.

Here is the link to that post Signatures & Handwriting - What they tell us

I knew that I had a box of “important papers” from my husband’s mother, Dorothy. I’ve gone through the box before. She loved to save things and was very neat and organized about it. Her sister, Delphine “Honey” Long, was the same way. Had I looked at every piece of paper in the box? I didn't think so. I retrieved the box from it’s place in the office closet.

As I began to look for a piece of paper that would contain my father-in-law’s signature, I came across new and revealing items.

TIP: Maybe it’s just me. But, when I find a box of “goodies” that has belonged to one of our family members I get pretty excited. It’s like you can’t look at everything fast enough and you can’t take it all in. Maybe you only go through some of it and then you get interrupted, distracted or have to take care of everyday life things. Whatever the reason, ALWAYS go back to these boxes and make sure you’ve properly inventoried every item. By inventory, I mean scanned and saved to your computer and added to your software database.

Among the many envelopes in Dorothy’s box was one from San Diego Federal Savings & Loan with this written on it – “all papers for 4634 67th including trust deed & title insurance.” The envelope was postmarked 31 Mar 1959 and addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon C. Hall.

Here is a photo of it.

As I went through this one envelope, I did find Gordon Hall’s signature. While I was at it, I also found Dorothy’s. Realizing I hadn’t saved her signature yet, I scanned, cropped, saved and added them to my Legacy database.

Then I began to look inside other envelopes in the box. I found Gordon Hall’s dog tags from World War II and other important papers relating to his service to our country. I sat down with my husband and we looked at several items. He reminisced about his parents and we smiled at some of Dorothy’s entries in her date books. I will share more about those in another post.

Today I plan to continue to go through this box and take care of what I started months ago, when I first located this box while cleaning out the office closet. Life does have a way of distracting us. But, sometimes, it’s twice the fun when you go back and find treasures you didn’t find the first time.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
Office closet Clean Out & Organization Project
Office Closet Clean Out - The Finished Project

Happy hunting,