Oh, There was an Earlier DAKIN Family History Book... Marion Needed to Get It! Questions Answered?

In Family History Research before FamilySearch, Ancestry and other popular websites, I wrote about the tedious process family historians used to track down all the descendants in published family histories.  I told of Albert H Dakin working on his DAKIN family for years and finally after he died his niece Mrs. H B Yamagata published his 716-page work.

It turns out that this was not the first book on the Dakin family that Albert worked on.  The undated 79-page book: Descendants of 1 Thomas Dakin of Concord, Mass. and 4 Rev. Simon Dakin of North East, N.Y. 1624-1920, collected and arranged by Albert H Dakin and Emily L Reed.

In 1938, Marion Evans Dakin had an interest in her late husband's family and had inquired about the Dakins from Evelyn West who in March sent her a couple of hand written pages on the early Dakin Family based on this book.



My dear Mrs Dakin -
     Here are the jumbled 
notes I have in the Dakins --
     Sorry I didn't copy more -- but
am sure you will find it Easily
in a good library --
     Am so glad to know you
are interested -- It helps
so to fill out records --
     Sincerely
            Evelyn West

Then in April, Marion receives a copy of the book from Emily L Reed's son.
Marion Evans Dakin
                       Storrs, Conn.
My dear Mrs. Dakin --
                I am sending you
a copy of Dakin Genealogy
which my mother Emily L.
(Clark) Reed complied
some years ago -- A Mr A. H.
Dakin of N.Y. City has an 
immense lot of Data of the
Dakin Family which he is
getting together but I don't know
whether he will ever have it
in book form as it will cost
a good sum of money to have
printed in book form --
He is a man over 70 and I
don't think he feels financially
able to have it printed as there
is so much of it.  The Dakins
are scattered all over the U. S.
I haven't seen or heard from 
him in a number of years
and I don't know whether he
is living yet.
      Thank you for the order.
               Truly yours.
                J. Marvin Reed
                Lakeville Conn.
4/18 -- 1938.

Yes, Albert Dakin did have an immense amount of data.  When he finally published his 716-page book, it chronicled 6,843 descendants of Thomas Dakin of Concord, Mass.






Marvin Reed is writing to Marion Evans Dakin in April of 1938.  His mother, Emily Leora Clark Reed, died twelve years earlier on 1 June 1926 [Descendants of Thomas Dakin of Concord, Mass. Albert H Dakin, 1948, page 205].  Marvin's mother researched the Dakin family and was the co-author with Albert Dakin on this first Dakin family book.  Marvin had not heard from Albert for a while, and wasn't sure if Albert was still alive and working on his manuscript. However, we know that he was, since Albert wrote my grandmother in January of 1943, trying to verify and update our family history.
He ended his letter with "I will greatly appreciate receiving an answer from you as I am anxious to complete my records while I have the ability."  He died on 14 March 1945 at the age of 79 [Descendants of Thomas Dakin of Concord, Mass. Albert H Dakin, 1948, page 188].

The first Dakin family book, followed one line of descent from the original family settler Thomas Dakin, continuing through that of Thomas' great grandson, the Rev. Simon Dakin. Beginning with the 4th generation [that is why the title includes "... 4 Rev. Simon Dakin of North East, N.Y."], only the descendants of this one great grandson were included.  Marion ordered this earlier book in 1938, and unfortunately the book didn't include her husband Rob's ancestor, Timothy who went west to New York and joined the Quakers in Oblong, New York. Timothy was a brother of the Rev. Simon Dakin who also went west to New York but was pastoring in another eastern New York town and it was his descendants who are in this book.

Marion shared the first Dakin book with her son Ted, even though he wouldn't have found his family in it.  I remember he loved quoting the Dakin motto:

Strike Dakyn the Devils in the hemp.

I have no idea what that means, but it is in both Dakin books.

So, when Albert H Dakin's niece, Mrs. H B Yamagata, finally published the Descendants of Thomas Dakin of Concord, Mass. in 1948, did Marion purchase the family history book that included her husband?

Unfortunately not.  I don't know if she even knew about it.  Many years after she died, I purchased it from a used book store.  A friend of the family called me to say that he heard that "if you were a Dakin in the U.S. then your family should be in this book because every Dakin was descended from one family in Concord."  Willie Hills had met another person named "Dakin" and he commented that he knew only one other Dakin.  She said that my family ought to be in that book too, so our dear friend Willie called me to tell me about it.

The link to this page is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2017/02/oh-there-was-earlier-dakin-family.html
©2017, Erica Dakin Voolich

Remember the Women, part 1

If you have been doing family history and have tried to trace your family name, you might been thrilled to have the "XX Family History" or "The Descendants of XX" book.  I know I was when I first started out and discovered the DAKIN history "was all in" the Descendants of THOMAS DAKIN of Concord, Mass. Compiled by Albert H. Dakin (Tuttle Publishing, 1948).  Albert spent many years sending out letters to folks all over the United States trying to trace all the descendants of Thomas who was in Concord, Massachusetts selling land in the 1650s.  He made an effort to include the names of the women who the Dakins married and when possible included their parents' names.  This is not always the case. The Dakin family descendants were lucky to have that information.  Sometimes, when tracing a family, the records only give the first name of the woman and don't identify their parents.  The DAKIN descendants were also lucky when  Elizabeth H. Dakin took the women in the first few generations and traced their families back in her The DAKIN FAMILY from THOMAS of Concord to THOMAS of Digby Including the Families of Their Wives (Plainville MA, 2008).

In my own research, I have moved beyond just looking for the names and dates of my ancestors, to also including some of their stories as you probably know just from reading this blog, if not from my genealogy books [shown on the right in this blog].  I have decided to focus on the stories and the genealogy of the women in my family.  This year I am starting with my grandmothers' generation.  Next year, will be the women in my great grandmothers' generation.  I will research not only the direct ancestors, but also interesting sisters who I have been able to include.

Adelaide Copeland Harvey Richardson with her daughter Alice.

Adelaide (Addie) Copeland Harvey married Robert (Bobbie) Worthington Richardson.  He always wanted a beautiful woman by his side; and as a young woman, Addie was beautiful.  A part of Bobbie's job with magazines involved entertaining the stars who came to town to be photographed and interviewed.  Tragically, Adelaide developed a skin infection that left open sores all over her body for decades.  Then she was blinded in one eye and partially in the other from cataract operations, as a young woman.

As their children grew,  Bobbie was "looking elsewhere," and when their two daughters were starting their own families, he started another family himself.  Then tragically for his new children, Bobbie and his new wife died.

Addie was a divorcee, legally blind, scarred by sores, and suffering from asthma.  How did she manage to survive in the world?

Marion Elizabeth Evans Dakin shortly before her marriage in 1913.

Marion Elizabeth Evans married Robert Edward Dakin.  He was an engineer who grew up watching the Bulls Bridge Power Plant being built, with the canal across his farm.  He came back and built the addition to Bulls Bridge Power Plant to bring power to the neighborhood.

When they married, she started a life moving around the state as he moved from one engineering project to another until he died tragically.  One week in December 1918, Marion's mother, husband and youngest son, died in the Flu Pandemic.  Marion needed to figure out how to support herself and her two-year-old son, Teddy.

Marion became the first Extension Nutritionist for the State of Connecticut.  If something was related to nutrition in Connecticut from 1921 until she retired in 1946, she was probably involved in it. For example, during the Depression and the WW2 Rationing, she was helping people cook with the available foods.  She was giving talks and writing farm bulletins and serving on committees.

Clarice Evans visiting the museum with modern art -- one of her favorite places.

Clarice Evans started out as an elementary teacher in Connecticut.  She took classes at the State Normal School in Danbury and eventually earned two degrees from Columbia Teachers College.

Clarice taught many places around the US and even in England before she joined the faculty at New Jersey's State Teachers College in Jersey City where she taught fine art and industrial arts until she retired in 1950.  She was an early advocate of Industrial arts in the schools and traveled to Dartington Hall in England (1928-1930) to introduce industrial arts to Dartington teachers and to surrounding schools. She also studied other progressive schools in England and on the continent and to reported back to Dartington Hall with suggestions for modeling their own programs.

Since it took me 400 pages to report on what I found on these three women in Remember the Women,  Heading up the Branches of our Women's Family Tree, part 1,  I can not begin to describe everything here.  Basically, we have three women born in the late 1800s, who came into adulthood in the early 1900s: one a divorcee, one a widow, one never married.  All managed to find their way through the challenges of the 20th century.  Enjoy.


©Erica Dakin Voolich 2017
The link to this post is:  http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2017/01/remember-women-part-1.html

The Date of the Deed...Truth or Fiction Written in the Grantor Index?

A couple of years ago, the Massachusetts Land Office Records found in County Courthouses throughout Massachusetts, 1620-1986 came online on FamilySearch.org.  I was doing my "genealogy happy dance" thrilled to find my Thomas Dakeynes (Dakin) selling his early lands in Concord MA in 1659 to J Hayward.  I spent time admiring the beautiful records that I could easily view online, even though they weren't indexed.   The joy brought with it some questions, beginning with the actual date.  I blogged about that in 2013.

I revisited the questions and what I learned about the dates in the Grantor Index in an article that is in the current MASSOG (Vol. 40 (2015-2016), no. 1, 22-26).

It is easy to say that the Grantor Index clearly gives a date of 12 August 1659, so that MUST be the date of the deed.  Looking  at the deed "clouds the issue" -- it is NOT dated 12 August 1659.  The word "August" doesn't appear anywhere in the deed!  

If you can't easily find a copy of my article in the current MASSOG (it is available online to Massachusetts Society of Genealogists (MSOG) members), I recommend you go back and read my blog and you'll understand the challenges of the date of the deed.

I will recommend that folks take a look at the whole issue of the MSOG's Journal MASSOG, it has interesting articles besides mine.  Happy reading!

©Erica Dakin Voolich, 2016

The link to this page is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-date-of-deedtruth-or-fiction.html

They Might Have Arrived on an Alien Space Ship, But They Owned Land in 1656 -- However, What Was the Date?

When I discovered that FamilySearch.org had the Massachusetts Land Office Records found in  County Courthouses throughout Massachusetts, 1620-1986 available online, I wanted to look for my Thomas Dakin/Dakeynes/Dacon who was one of the persons who got "first division lands" in Concord [now part of Sudbury], after he was dropped off by an alien space ship [for some reason he hasn't been found on any of the ship manifests before the 1650s when he was in Concord getting first and second division lands.]

Deed Grantee Index for Middlesex County, 1639-1799, A-G

The actual records aren't searchable, however, the above entry in the Grantee Index clearly shows where to look for the actual record for Thomas Dakeynes: volume 2, page 105.  The Grantor Index gives the same information, ironically Thomas Dakeynes is both the grantor and grantee in these indexes.   FamilySearch.org very nicely not only uploaded the index but they uploaded the books too.  So going to volume 2, page 105 produced the deed referenced here.

Middlesex County, Massachusetts Deeds, volume 2, pages 104, 105

The Dakin deed is the one on the lower right corner of the above pages, shown below:

Thomas Dakeynes/Dakin/Dacon, husbandman, and his wife Sarah sold land, that they previously bought from widow Elizabeth Barrow, to John Hayward who signed an indenture (agreement) dated 9th day 11th month 1656.  The index gives a date almost three years later in 1659.  Looking closely at the deed, it clearly shows both in the text of the deed that it was the "9th day, 11th month 1656" and in the notation in the margin: "9.11.1656"
I have not transcribed the deed [very hard to read, will work on that later] but it looks like there is another sale of this land to Samuel and Josiah Dillard on 14th of 2nd month 1658.

So where did the date of 12 August 1659 come from?  It appears that was the date that they recorded the deed in the county of Middlesex.  If you look at both this deed and the one above it, the person who  recorded the deed was Thos Danforth.  The deed on top was agreed to 22 April 1657, but entered and recorded in 1659, by Thomas Danforth.

Since they lived in Concord which is part of Middlesex County, the county seat of Middlesex (now and then) is Cambridge -- probably about 16 miles away.  Historically, looking at Newberry Library's historic county maps, Concord was in Middlesex County which was established in 1643 as one of the original Massachusetts counties.  People did not live near the county office, in this case it is about 16 miles away on modern roads (then, not by modern highways with easily driven cars) -- long walk or horseback ride.  Maybe they didn't see a need to record it until it there was yet another sale of the land.  Maybe everyone involved went to Cambridge and recorded it 12 August 1659.

Another question would be: when was the index created?
This index goes from 1639 to 1799.  Was it created in 1800 or in some year long after that?  My reason for asking this question has to do with the change from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar in many Protestant countries (including England and its colonies) in 1752.  In the Julian Calendar New Year's Day was not the first of January.  Instead New Years Day was the 25th of March:  Annunciation Day (nine months prior to Christmas in the Christian churches, the day that Angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary about her new upcoming role as the mother of Jesus).  With the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar, the 1st of January became New Years Day.

Thinking about the question of when was this index created, I wondered: how was the index creator reading "9th day, 11th month"?  In 1800, the 11th month was November, but in 1656, the 11th month was January.

Looking closely at the recording date by Thos Danforth:

I transcribed this last sentence:
"Entered and Recorded  12th (8 mo  59    By Thos Danforth Record."

In the Julian Calendar, 8th month would be October, and if I read this correctly, then the date should be 12 October 1659.

If the person creating the grantor and grantee index which goes through 1799, was thinking of the difference between the calendars of 1659 and their current year, would the date have been recorded as 12 October instead of 12 August 1659?

I can't get into the mind of the person with the wonderful handwriting who created the index.  But it would be nice to be able to ask that question!  [Personally I wish that Danforth who entered and recorded the deed had equally as good handwriting!]

  πππππππππππππππππππππππ

If you want more information on the change between the Julian and Gregorian calendars --- the why, how and when--- check out The 1752 Calendar Change on the Connecticut State Library website.   Since the Protestant countries switched many years after the Catholic Countries, there was an adjustment needed which involved eliminating 11 days in 1752.  The Connecticut Library site points out as examples of what happened with the change:

The changeover involved a series of steps:
• December 31, 1750 was followed by January 1, 1750 (under the "Old Style" calendar, December was the 10th month and January the 11th)
• March 24, 1750 was followed by March 25, 1751 (March 25 was the first day of the "Old Style" year)
• December 31, 1751 was followed by January 1, 1752 (the switch from March 25 to January 1 as the first day of the year)
• September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752 (drop of 11 days to conform to the Gregorian calendar)

The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2013/05/they-might-have-arrived-on-alien-space.html

©Erica Dakin Voolich 2013

My Regrets and Redemption Lead to a Present for my Family

I am sure that all good family historians have moments that they regret ... I wish I knew what questions to have asked my grandmother, Nana, Marian Evans Dakin, before she died in 1974.  As a result of not knowing ANYTHING about the DAKIN family back then, my work was extensive to piece together the story. I only knew my grandfather's name (he died when my father was 2 years old) and that he had died in the 1918 flu pandemic, along with his son and mother-in-law in less than one week.

When I was in high school, Nana brought some small brownish pictures of something [she said it was a power plant that her husband Rob worked on] to share one year when she came for her annual visit.  Of course, I was the uninterested teenager.  I'm not sure anyone else in my family was much interested either.  I think she brought them out just once during her annual six-month visit.

Years later, I was a 20-something who would drive down to visit her in Connecticut.  I helped her go through various things in her house, and made note of who she wanted them to go to and what things were.  Of course, we didn't find EVERYTHING since there still were surprises when I was her executrix cleaning out her home.  By then, I had enough sense to start asking some questions about the family -- clearly not all of the ones I should have, but I made a start.  On one visit, I asked her about those pictures of the power plant.  "Of, those, I gave them to the power company."

I contacted the power company and was told they did not know where the pictures were, but they did share some information on the power plant which helped me to understand how it worked along with some of the history of the Bulls Bridge Power Plant in Gaylordsville, Connecticut.

What I never asked my grandmother was the "rest of the story" which turned out to be quite interesting.
This year's Christmas present for my family is what I learned about this story AND about the DAKIN family.

In my grandmother's desk, when she died, was one of the surprises for this executrix -- the negatives for the pictures my grandfather, Rob Dakin took of the building of the addition to the power plant.  This book, Bulls Bridge:  The Story of a dreamer, a family farmer, a camera and the building of a power plant, is the result of much research.  It is not only the story of the power plant but includes information on the DAKIN family line, all the way back to Thomas Dakin, the immigrant settler in Concord, Massachusetts by 1652.

The "Readers Digest" version of the story of the power plant is about a politician with a dream to harness the Housatonic River, a farmer who sells a convoluted part of his farm for the canal to be dug right across the fields and past his house, a farm boy who watches the canal and power plant emerge, and then, the power plant is finished and does NOT bring any power to the surrounding neighborhood!  The high school boy, goes off to college (first in family), comes back as an assistant engineer and works on the addition to the plan which brings power to the neighborhood and documents it all with his camera. His pictures from 1912 are included in the book.

I learned a lot about my ancestors as people as I researched this book -- this was not a compilation of just dates.  Oh how I wish I had the sense to talk to my grandmother about this before she died in 1974.

The link for this post is: http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-regrets-and-redemption-lead-to.html
©2013, Erica Dakin Voolich

Tombstone Tuesday: Simon DAKIN

Buried in Main St Burial Ground, Concord MA is my 6G'grandfather Simon Dakin.

It was so bright that it was actually easier to read with a shadow on it even though it make it look like it had legs!

 Here LIES BURIED
Ye BODY OF
Mr SIMON DAKIN
WHO DEPARTED
THIS LIFE
JANUARY Ye 11th
1739 IN Ye 76
YEAR OF HIS AGE

Simon DAKIN was born in Concord in 1663, son of Thomas DAKIN who was one of the persons who had first division lands.  He did not live in Concord his whole life, he went with others from Boston to South Carolina in December 1695.  They found a settlement originally called Newington and then re-named Dorchester (after Dorchester MA).  The settlement was not a success and Simon returned to Concord around 1700 to 1702.