NEWSPAPER GENEALOGICAL COLUMNS

by Edward Holden

From 1896 to 1941 the venerable Boston Transcript published a genealogy column that varied in frequency from two to three times a week. For many years the State Library collection has included this aid to family research in microcard format - one of the most fiendish record-keeping devices ever invented.

In addition to presenting enormous difficulties in the locating of information, microcards, which probably predated the Edsel in becoming an anachronism, could only be examined through the use of a reader that was equally obsolete. It is not inaccurate to say that finding spar parts for a microcard reader at a library supply house has about the same success rate as going to your local auto supply store for parts for Ford's motorized white elephant.

But take heart, this bleak picture has changed! Genealogical research can now be conducted with much less frustration at the State Library on the newly acquired microfiche version of the Transcript's columns. The microfiche version is provided by the Godfrey Library of Middletown, CT. That library also publishes the American Biographical-Genealogical Index, a comprehensive guide to names that can be researched in the forty-five year accumulation of Transcripts columns.

The columns consist of questions posed in an issue of the newspaper with the hope of receiving answers in subsequent issues. For example, in the column dated March 10, 1915, a correspondent identified by the initials J.E.W. asked for the English ancestry of Richard Holden. On March 14 a response was received from M.I.G. and on March 29, E.S.S.D. replied to the inquiry. From these responses J.E.W. learned that Richard Holden and his brother Justinian, from the parish of Lindsey, England, arrived in Massachusetts in 1634.

It must be admitted that there are two serious weaknesses in these columns. Neither the individuals who ask the questions nor those who respond to them are identified. Thus, they may be respected genealogists, amateur researchers, or those who aspire to be either. A much more serious deficiency is that in many instances respondents fail to cite their sources. Taking these flaws into account, the Transcripts columns are nevertheless a rich source of clues that help us to trace our elusive ancestors.