After three years, I am happy to report that I made a trip to the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYGBS) last Wednesday to investigate the infamous Hartman Papers. I joined a group of Friends of the New York State Library for a bus trip to NYC and after an interesting presentation about the newly renovated library and a brief tour, I went uptown to the NYGBS. I had joined the Society by web and arranged for them to have the Hartman Papers ready for my inspection and was greeted most courteously as a new member. Some of you will not be at all interested in this account and may want to delete this long message now. For those who have participated in the numerous discussions on this List concerning J. Crawford HARTMAN (JCHY), and other newer list members, you may find this interesting. Also, it is important for this to be added to the List Archives. To refresh your memories, J. Crawford HARTMAN was a frequent contributor to the genealogy column of the Boston Evening Transcript (BET) and also wrote a number of articles for the NYGBR and the NEHGS. He was an amateur but an active genealogist and was reported to have been at one time an assistant librarian at NYGBS. In researching the genealogy of his wife, Helen BLANCHARD HARTMAN and in tracing her ancestry to Thomas BLANCHARD the immigrant (c1585-1654), he began to investigate Thomas' origins and to collect information about other descendants. In several of his articles he indicated that he was planning some day to publish his research on Thomas and his descendants but no such publication has been found. Items submitted to the BET were always signed with a code and Mr. Hartman's was, J. C. H. Y. (the last letter was related to the person's residence; in this case, "Y" for New York). Several people have either had the NYGBS staff search the Hartman Papers for information about Thomas or have visited the library themselves. In all cases that I know about, the results were mostly negative. There may be an explanation for this that I will mention later. My request was to see the "Hartman Papers" so when I arrived, I found two cardboard boxes (16x13x11 inches) that had been brought from the vault room. I met Librarian, Joy Rich and Assistant Librarian Robert Gibson gave me a quick introduction to the Library and showed me a 'surname card file' of their holdings. Since I had about 4 hours before closing time and was anxious to begin the inventory, I only took a minute to check the "Hartman" cards in the file. I did notice that, in addition to the card for the 2 boxes, there were several other Hartman items, including at least three other box of materials that indicated a Blanchard connection. I completed the inventory of the two boxes with 10-15 minutes to spare and then took some notes from the other cards under Hartman. (summary follows Inventory). ___________ Hartman Collection at NYGBS Visited by Fletcher A. Blanchard on 9/29/99, 12:30 p.m. Viewed 2 boxes, 16 x 13 x 11 in., stored in Vault Room and made available for inspection. Inventory Storage Box #1 3 boxes (each approx. 5 1/2 x 10 x3 1/2 inches) of 3x5 cards. Most arranged alphabetically and these appear to be all Blanchards. Information on cards is typewritten and cards are in good condition.. (Approx. 100 misc. cards located before the alphabetized cards) some examples: V. R. Completely Checked - Massachusetts (5 cards - total of 207 entries) Misc. Notes on Blanchards - Blanchat, suspected royalist put to death Nov. 20, 1589 Notes on France and religious wars: French Huguenots in America - Harper's Mag. Nov. 1870 Pierre Blanchet m. Marie Fournier in Quebec; mer de Rosiers, Near Amiens, Picardy and em. To Canada c1650 Ref. Genealogie de la Famille Blancher par L'abbe G. A. Dejordy, Manchester, N.H. 1909 Louise Blanchard dau. Ree, lord of Bonout & Anne de Beaumont, mar. 4 Jul 1607, Pierre de la Barre, Esq., lord de Vaution, native of Poitou, France, members of the Reformed religion. No children. Blanchard in Piscataquis Co., Me. First settled in 1813; incorporated 17 Mar 1831 (Put. Hist. Mag. V.2, p.33) Blanchard coat of arms described (Gen. Of the Cleveland Fam. 2899 p.131) Rev. War records of 15 Blanchards, mostly from Andover, are given in the Essex Antiquarian, v. 9, pg. 182-84 Blanchard records in England as quoted in Swan Gen. (N. E. V. 51, p. 126-7) etc., etc. appear to be various unplaced B's. ********* Checked some names - Thomas Blanchard (27 cards) none are Thomas the immigrant! William Blanchard (141 cards) none are William of Killingly, CT (personal interest; line of Thomas > George > George > William) At the end of the file, after "Z" - 13 cards with misc. info. on Blanchard/Barnes incl. Thomas , the immigrant Some examples: "Marriage Licenses of Salisbury" published in "The Genealogist" N.S. v.30 p.121-7 Oct. 1913; Thomas Blanchard of Clatford Co. South, yeoman, widower & Ann Barnes of St. Edmund's Sarum, widow. May 15, 1637 ... Ref. To trip of the Jonathan -Waterman Family., v.1, p.9-10 ?? Misc. Info. About Agnes Bent Barnes Misc. Info about Richard Barnes, first husband of Agnes Bent Misc. Info. About Thomas Blanchard, son of Thomas, who mar. Anna Rolfe Mary Blanchard, elder ch. Of Thomas (3) Blanchard and his wife Anna Rolfe, mar. (2nd) wife) Josiah Cooper who d. in Sept. 1678. She mar. (2nd) c 1679 Richard Brooks of Boston. Gunsmith who died shortly before 1 Apr 1707. (Amer. Gen. Jany. 1944 p 180) {Authority?} Following these are many cards, all numbered in ULH corner, but not alphabetized. Example: #108 Asahel Blanchard of New Haven, VT granted 150 acres of land, 1 Jun 1775 etc. DAR Records v.11 in Vermont Hist. Soc. Library. (end of 3x5 cards) Six envelopes and folders of correspondence, etc. as late as 1973 2 folders - Blanchard Census Returns 1 folder - correspondence and misc. Genealogical data. Life membership in NYGBS cert. For JCH Nov. 1963 1 large folder of mostly gen. charts and some correspondence - much on "Samuel Blanchard desc." (This was the line of Helen Blanchard Hartman, wife of J.C.H.) copy of letter from NYGBS to Mrs. Maynard Brown Henry which includes: "When Mr. Hartman died, no one in the family spoke for his papers, so the Society offered to house them. These papers are unorganized and unindexed, so it is difficult to use them in their present state. Some work has been done on them, but, to make them accessible in full, much more needs to be done." Storage Box #2 1 large envelope of mostly notes on Blanchards - poor condition, yellowed pages, very brittle, hand written 1 folder of correspondence, among which is a letter from Arthur F. Blanchard of Marblehead MA (no date) re/ "Hermit" Blanchard and comments on Hezekiah re/ land in Boston, MA 1 envelope of mostly correspondence, including: 1. Desc. sheet starting with Alain Blanchard , born in Rouen, France, was a patriot of 1418. Very little is known about his sons. Genealogy of Mass... Vol. 4 pp 2573 2. Alain's son, of which nothing is known. But he must have had one son, Thomas. 3. Thomas Blanchard had four sons born in France. Their names were: Nathaniel, Thomas, George, and Samuel. etc. This was apparently sent by Mrs. Daniel Schlemmer, 805 East Marshall Street, Marion, IN 46952 (Betty C.) with personal message on a note card 1 folder with misc. gen. Notes and 1 page of names/phone numbers (May have been a correspondence/contact list.) 1 envelope with papers that appear to have been sent to JCH by Mrs. Herbert Beck, Manitou Beach, MI 1953 These incl. Info. On family and desc. of Chauncy Lewis Blanchard (1862-1938) b. Portland, MI, d. Adrian, MI 1 folder of info. From Berkshire Athenaeum plus more copy of letter from Eben Blanchard (West Garland Jan 4th 1879) to Walter Blanchard Esq., copied by Arthur Franklin Blanchard and sent to JCH Oct. 1952. Contains info. About Eben's ancestors - Malden, Charlestown, Bilerica in 1800s 1 small folder of misc. notes and possible references/sources to check - many lined out. 1 envelope of misc. NY City and other NY Census records and 1 page which may be a list of published Genealogies. 1st and last lines read: LIHS Abbot A & E Abbot 197p - 1847 . . 1823/4 Cutter W R Cutter 432 p 1871/5 1 envelope - corres. Re/ Blanchard families in Acworth, NH , who were desc. Of Thomas B., the immigrant; to Mrs. Don H. Sprague,1965. 1 envelope titled "Vermont Blanchards" Probate, V.R.s , Marr. Records, etc. 1 envelope - Descendants of John Blanchard of Andover MA (1772-1856) d.. in Greenbush, Ont. Canada. Descendants of Aaron Blanchard (1766- ? ), Andover, MA to Hartford, NY; he followed his brother to Greenbush, Ont. Appears to be correspondence and data prepared by Harry D. Blanchard, 212 Carlton St., Toronto (Ont. Canada) Also includes some notes from BET articles and 2 pages of "Isle La Motte Blanchards" prepared by Clarissa Ann Blanchard Also: Harlow Curtis Material - mentions Azarial Blanchard "on a list of Capt. Brownson's Col, Montreal, Geb 26th 1776, without remark" And other Walter Blanchard notes 1 envelope titled Concord, NH marriage records ( most crossed out as though they may have been entered on 'cards' ) Some Concord wills, Blanchard marriages, and deaths 1 folder - "Submitted by Andrew J. Provost, Jr. Feb. 13, 1957 misc. Newspaper clippings, correspondence also - clippings from "Enterprise News" (genealogy column??) re/ Asahel Blanchard m. PriscillaBrooks in Conn. removed to Mass and later to Vermont, where served in the Revolution." Mentions "The 1810 census record shows Asahel Blanchard and Asahel Blanchard, Jr. New Haven, Addison Co. Vermont. Want data of the wives and children of the senior and the junior Asahel Blanchards These are from: Mr. J. Harry Baker, 2732 Mabel Street, Berkeley 2, Calif. 1 folder titled "Blanchard Records for Mr. J. C. Hartman compiled by George McK. Roberts, Hartford, CT. c1958 Contains misc. census records - CT, NY, VT, also some FGS and some land records. 1 folder - Some V.R.s for NH, Greenfield, Mass. deeds, plus misc.correspondence. End of Hartman inventory of 9/29/99 ___________________ Other materials prepared by J. Crawford Hartman and/or his wife Helen Blanchard Hartman and Listed in the NYGBS card file but not inspected this trip. Hartman, J. Crawford Charts, correspondence & notes on Blanchard families 1 record storage box 15 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 10 1/2 Hartman Collection, 1981 Two other boxes listed in the NYGBS 'card file' 1. Hartman, Helen B. Clay and related families - Pennock, Mathewson, Madison, Pontus, and Goodspeed, with Edna Clay Goodspeed. 2. Hartman, Helen B. Benjamin Van Vleck of the Mohawk Valley and Marinus Van Vleck of Harlem and Dutchess Co., NY, with James Van Vleck. (Material supplementary to the published Van Vleck genealogy by Jane Van Vleck GV3791) Also listed on cards - Hartman, Helen B. 51+ pp, Phoenix, Fenix, ffeniye, ffenike, Phenix, Phaenix genealogy 1981 Hartman, Helen B. and J. Crawford. Records of various Merwin Families 1 pamphlet box 1981 Hartman, J. Crawford. Ca10 leaves Genealogy of the Van Antwerp families later than those published in V. 72, 79, 80 of NYGBR (possibly compiled by Lee Douglas Van Antwerp) Hartman, J. Crawford Seitzinger family research notes and correspondence, backing materials for The Seitzinger Family by J. Crawford Hartman - NYGBR vol 68 1937 Looked at one entry under "Blanchard" in the card file - Notes on descendants of Thomas Blanchard d 1654. Compiled by Milton E. Blanchard & Harold M. Blanchard, Ca 1930 1 looseleaf notebook, Family Shelf. (This is where genealogies are stored.) This notebook contained nothing new about the origins of Thomas B. ______ Brief Conclusions There are a total of 5 "boxes" at the NYGBS that might be considered "Hartman Papers". If only 3 are inspected, it is possible that they are the ones that contain little information about Thomas Blanchard. The two boxes I viewed, appeared to contain the major part of Mr. Hartman's papers at NYGBS, dealing with his research effort to collect data on Thomas B. and his descendants. Finding the 3 small boxes of 3x5 cards and the brief statement in the NYGBS letter to Mrs. Maynard Brown Henry about how the Hartman papers were acquired, suggests that the bulk of Mr. Hartman's papers may be located there. Mr. Hartman's addresses on his correspondence were for Brooklyn, NY or Long Island, NY so any search for more of his papers might reasonably be conducted in other local NY repositories. NYGBS materials may not be removed from their building but their staff is interested in having people work on their records to make them more widely available. Normally, only Society members may use their research materials. I did not inquire about any other arrangements. Hartman's references to "10,000-12,000 names" in his collection, matches well with an estimate from the boxes of 3x5 cards. 1 card-inch = approx 120 cards so 30 card-inches = 3600 cards. At 3-4 names/card, there could be 10,000-14,000 names! Transcribing Hartman's cards into some sort of useable database would be a monumental task! If any list members have had experience with similar projects, have ideas how scanned card data might be used or know of any genealogy database programs that can search and match names, dates, etc. - - -, please share your thoughts. Fletch