I have a Family Legend that I would like to check out. Before his death, my father on several occasions said that he saw Dr Goddard fire his first rockets and that I was with him at the time. It is possible, but I was only two at the time and have no memory of this. Here are the facts. Dad's mother died when he was nine and her sister, Bertha F. Albee, took in and raised his two sisters. I remember visiting my great-aunt and my two aunts on many Sunday afternoons. Aunt Bertha had married Louis A Spaulding and they lived on a farm at 320 or 322 Oxford Street in Auburn, Mass. Dad also said that Aunt Bertha has seen the liftoffs and as a stringer (reporter) had filed a story with one of the Worcester newspapers describing what she saw. I have tried, over the internet, to find out whose byline was on the initial news report. No luck. If it was Bertha Spaulding that reported the account of what happened at Dr. Goddard's aunt's farm it would remove any doubt that Dad saw what he claimed he did. I live in North Carolina and my health will not let me travel to Worcester to check the facts myself. Any volunteers?

Don: Well, I should think I'd want to see this piece, too! Your relative must have been an interesting woman whether she saw Mr. Goddard shoot the rockets or not. Call the local public library, give them the dates on which this article would have been written, and ask if they can please send you a copy. They might ask you to send a written request and a fee, but they probably will do it. Since the piece your relative wrote concerned a specific event, it should be easy to pinpoint when it would have been written. The only hangup I can see would be if you don't know when Mr. Goddard fired his rockets, and that should be easy enough to learn, though resources in the town where Mr. Goddard lived may not be where you're going to instantly find it out. You might also try the local historical society. They could even have a copy of your relative's piece! Local historical societies often have very old newspapers or keep clipping files. I was hearing all kinds of things my father's cousin had done, and I called the local historical society and they sent me copies, and what they had on her including an obituary. I even got two pictures of her. If that should fail call the newspaper, they should have some sort of a library, but I've seen that fail and the library should work. You may also be able to get a microfilm of that newspaper for that month via interlibrary loan, most papers are available this way. There is a big system through which it is available, catalogued and everything, but I've never used it. I've even seen people get copies of specific articles for free via interlibrary loan! Dora --- Don Barnes <dbarnes6@triad.rr.com> wrote: > I have a Family Legend that I would like to check > out. Before his death, > my father on several occasions said that he saw Dr > Goddard fire his first > rockets and that I was with him at the time. It is > possible, but I was only > two at the time and have no memory of this. > > Here are the facts. Dad's mother died when he was > nine and her sister, > Bertha F. Albee, took in and raised his two sisters. > I remember visiting my > great-aunt and my two aunts on many Sunday > afternoons. > > Aunt Bertha had married Louis A Spaulding and they > lived on a farm at 320 > or 322 Oxford Street in Auburn, Mass. > > Dad also said that Aunt Bertha has seen the liftoffs > and as a stringer > (reporter) had filed a story with one of the > Worcester newspapers > describing what she saw. > > I have tried, over the internet, to find out whose > byline was on the > initial news report. No luck. If it was Bertha > Spaulding that reported the > account of what happened at Dr. Goddard's aunt's > farm it would remove any > doubt that Dad saw what he claimed he did. > > I live in North Carolina and my health will not let > me travel to Worcester > to check the facts myself. Any volunteers? > > > > ==== MAWORCES Mailing List ==== > Have you visited the ARCHIVES lately? > http://www.rootsweb.com/~maworces/wo-gen.htm > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free http://sbc.yahoo.com