Hello everyone... wanted to share some specific research done recently .. but find that "first", I'd like to share some general musings about sitting in a library! I've lived in northern California for 30 years now, with family research to do for CT, MA, VT, MA and MI. I'm fortunate to have a FHC and the Santa Clara City Library nearby (within 20 miles) - and have spent many hours at those two places. I also borrow NEHGS books to research at home.. and of course I talk to folks like you on these lists, etc etc. Well, last weekend, I finally made it up north to San Francisco to the Sutro Library there. (sigh... it was a drizzly, cold day... and a glorious day inside that non-possessing building!) It was a classic for researchers. Check your belongings into the lockers... sign in... use pencils only... can't make xerox copies of materials published prior to 1921... etc etc. We've all done this, I know, at State Libraries, National Archives, etc etc. But the ritual already had me excited and I hadn't even looked around yet!! It was "good" to be in a research library!! Yes, I had done my "online searching" prior to going there... and had my printouts in hand. Not everything they have is online though, so it was time well spent to sit with their reference librarian and get the "overview" of their collections. Then to the surname and locality cards... on to the rows and rows of books... coming back and settling in at a table... treasures in hand... and gingerly turning yellowed & crinkling thin pages... in total heaven for the day!!! (again, a sigh escapes...) We've all seen the discussions of online research vs the cemetary walks, the dusty back rooms of town halls, the archives, etc etc. All these words - overloading your e:mail boxes - all to say - it was a wonderful and satisfying thing to look at "the real thing" ... and hold books in my hand ... ever grateful fot that fragile link between myself and the person who had labored to "create" the words on the pages I turned. All the while ... looking for this or that ancestor that might... just might... be on the very next page! ---- Now, believe it or not... I'm actually going to share some Niagara Co, NY research... and more about my HOSMER and PRATT families... but I'll put that into a separate e:mail. Thanks for your indulgence in reading all this. The "trail".. the things we do, places we go and the people we meet.. are so much a part of why genealogy is so rich and interesting. And voila! Hand-held discoveries.. bringing ancestors ever closer! And voila! I send more little "stories and vignettes" to my family of today... about their family of yesterday. And voila! I get to sit happily in yet another research institution - grateful for its existence, and for the collections preserved - history - waiting to be discovered!! Debbie CAhobbies@aol.com

Dear Group, Debbie's research musings this evening instantly brought to mind an experience of my own that had to do with the Pennsylvania Historical Society research library back around 1975. Yes, it was the same "check your belongings into a locker, no pens, only pencils, and you better behave yourself!" But I know how excited Debbie was to enter such a hallowed hall. What greets you when you enter is the sweet smell of old books and ancient papers! What a heady smell! And such anticipation! You just can't get such a feeling from the Internet! A number of years ago I posted to the (then) PA-Dutch list a story I had written at the time that includes a bit of personal excitement that occurred in that research library. No, it has nothing to do with Niagara County families, only my own. But under the circumstances, I thought it might be appropriate to post it to our list at this time. There's a genealogy message to it and maybe you'll benefit by it. (BTW, I've now been rescheduled for surgery on Wednesday the16th and if you want an update as to the outcome, please feel free to email my niece Debbie at Targon@peoplepc.com. She's prepared to handle such questions. Bless you all for your prayers. I'm overwhelmed by your support.) vee BARKING UP THE WRONG ANCESTOR I recently posted a query about my ancestor, Thomas DeWees, and I am pleased at the nice quick responses I've received as a consequence. Because his parents have eluded me for so many years, the responses unexpectedly brought my mind back to where I was when I first started my research on him and his parents. Actually, I wasn't the first one in my family to try to nail down their identity. You see, this was the situation many years ago: There is a DeWees family bible. It was probably purchased by Thomas (1808-1891) and was definitely given to his only son Daniel, my great-grandfather. In it is recorded births, marriages and deaths of family members. But there was one specific old photograph that had been placed in it and remained in it for over 100 years that certainly indicated earlier family ties. It was a photograph of an elderly man with his signature underneath, "Capt. Samuel DeWees." And all the family members to the current generation knew who he was, Thomas' father. My mother, her sisters, and especially my grandfather's brother, Lafayette DeWees, knew all about him. Captain Samuel DeWees had been a fifer in the Revolutionary War. He came to this country from France with General Lafayette and they fought in the war together. The family swore to that fact. My mother first took up the quest to find records that would tie our Thomas in with Capt. Sam (the name we eventually felt more comfortable with). That was in the 1960s. My older sister Norma then joined Mother and the two of them searched and searched. After Mother died in 1974, I joined my sister and we continued. In fact, it was in 1975 when I accompanied my sister to Philadelphia on my first foray into genealogy research. We were intent on our search for information about Capt. Sam! I was a complete novice at it but I was as dedicated as my sister was. We were in the PA Historical Society in Philadelphia and I was going through the card files looking for references to the DeWees family. I found a card that certainly caught my eye and I called Norma over and asked if she had ever checked on the book that it referred to, "A History of the Life and Services of Captain Samuel DeWees, A Native of Pennsylvania, and Soldier of the Revolutionary and Last Wars. . . [and the title goes on forever!]. Its date of publication was 1844. Well, no, she hadn't seen the book and so we asked the librarian if she would bring it up from the stacks. The librarian finally handed the book over to us (after a LIFETIME, it seemed, of waiting!) Norma and I sat down together and opened up the book. And there before us on the very first page was the SAME picture of Capt. Samuel DeWees that had been kept in the DeWees family bible for so many years!!! Well, if you've never shed tears over such a discovery, you haven't experienced the tearful joy of such an occasion! We excitedly leafed over page after page of the book trying to find some sort of reference to his personal life that would mention his wife and children and quickly realized that there was no way that we had time enough to go through the entire book. (Of course, there was no such thing as in Index to it!) Time was short (of course!) and the only hope that we had was, in desparation, to ask the Historical Society. to run off a Xerox copy of the entire book! Well, expense aside, it wasn't that easy. First we had to convince the society that the book was unavailable through used book stores. In the end, after I had made some desparate calls to the local stores, the librarian was satisfied that even in old book stores in Philadelphia, Capt. Sam's book wasn't to be found. We returned home and after a few month's time, the photocopied book finally arrived. I studied every page carefully and thoroughly and, although Capt. Sam rather casually mentioned his parents, his brothers and sisters, his four wives and his children, our Thomas just wasn't there--close, but no cigar! But if Capt. Sam wasn't Thomas' father, then why oh why was Sam's photograph always kept in the family bible??? Because of Capt. Sam's rather offhand reference to his children--and no mention of grandchildren--there just HAD to be a close family tie to him. And so my sister and I continued to search to find out just what that tie was. We continued to nag our DeWees aunts about the details of the picture, the bible and what their father had told them. We got the same answers we had heard before. We finally had the opportunity to see the bible which was then in the possession of Lafayette's son Donald DeWees, great-grandson of Thomas. We studied the records in it (what became of the photograph of Capt. Sam is now a mystery) and we took notes. But we were encouraged by what Cousin Donald remembered that his father, Lafayette, had told him about Capt. Sam. However, it sounded just a bit too familiar to me. Frankly, it reminded me of what I had read in Capt. Sam's book. It sounded like it was quoted almost word for word. And I guess that it was at that moment when I realized that there was "something wrong with this picture!" (In more ways than one!) There was one aspect of Capt. Sam's book that had bothered me. It was written in 1844 when Sam was in his declining years--his 80s--and it was obvious that his story was told by way of the pen of John Smith Hanna. Certainly Sam told John of his experiences, but more obviously John added all the swirls and grandiose words that would whip up the waning interest in the "heroes" of the Revolutionary War. It would help sell the book. I guess what gave me the clue was the obvious plea in the book to the public to help this aged soldier in his hour of need. Sam was on a meager pension in his waning years. And then to further the marketing effort to sell the book, it was, in my eventual opinion, peddled for all that it was worth. And how does one do that in 1844? Sell or give away autographed pictures of the actual "hero" himself!! And that's the conclusion I have come to as to why his photograph ended up in the DeWees family bible. The book must have been published at just the right time when people had some sort of need to connect themselve with the glorious heroes of the fading Revolutionary War. And what better connection did my DeWees family have but to lay claim to Capt. Sam as their very own ANCESTOR! They had his NAME! The moral to this story is NOT one that warns you to disregard any stories you hear from your parents or grandparents or other members of your family about your ancestors. It's only to warn you not to spend a total of 30 years of research based SOLEY on what they have told you. Listen to your family stories but, at the same time, consider the three most important rules of genealogy--(1) SOURCE, (2) SOURCE , (3) SOURCE!! But, psssst! Good old Capt. Sam sure did take us on one exciting ride!!