Day 58

It has been a good day for the most part. Fun and interesting research. Grumpy computer.

I headed through the doors of the NEHGS at 9:30 this morning. They have a brochure to orient you to the collections on each of the 6 floors. I headed for the reading room and the stacks. The building is lovely and there were quite a few people doing similar work.

I wanted to answer the question of whether John Tukey was born in England or Mass. However, there are no passenger lists for the time period so ascertaining whether he came in 1744 will be difficult. I find no records in the Boston area for a birth, marriage or death of any John Tukey/Tuckey, Tookie or anyone else by that name. There was a John Tukey here in the late 1600s but he was single and died at age 20 with no children. So I put that problem aside and moved to the next goal - having 10 generations of VERIFIED ancestors on each of the lines (unless they go out of the country - I will tackle these separately).

I spent most of the day filling in blanks in terms of vital statistics and locations. I need these before I go to the electronic records tomorrow and/or Thursday to comb through wills and probates. It is amazing to find books of vital statistics for each town in Mass from 1600 forward. I also hope to make a list of cemeteries to visit on Friday and Sunday using the death records and cemetery listings as guidelines.

All for now. The weather remains great and I have conquered the train and subway system so the regular world is good.