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1852
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS SOLVE GENEALOGICAL MYSTERIES |
It is New Year's Eve 1852 and Henry HYDENWELL sits at his desk by candlelight.
He dips his quill pen in ink and begins to writes his New Year's resolutions.
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| 1 |
No man is truly well-educated unless he learns to spell his name at
least three different ways within the same document. I resolve to give the
appearance of being extremely well-educated in the coming year.
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| 2 |
I resolve to see to it that all of my children will have the same
names that my ancestors have used for six generations in a row. |
| 3 |
My age is no one's business but my own. I hereby resolve to never list
the same age or birth year twice on any document. |
| 4 |
I resolve to have each of my children baptized in a different church
-- either in a different faith or in a different parish. Every third child will
not be baptized at all or will be baptized by an itinerant minister who keeps no
records. |
| 5 |
I resolve to move to a new town, new county, or new state at
least once every 10 years -- just before those pesky enumerators come around
asking silly Questions. |
| 6 |
I will make every attempt to reside in counties and towns where no
vital records are maintained or where the courthouse burns down every few years. |
| 7 |
I resolve to join an obscure religious cult that does not believe in
record keeping or in participating in military service. |
| 8 |
When the tax collector comes to my door, I'll loan him my pen, which
has been dipped in rapidly fading blue ink. |
| 9 |
I resolve that if my beloved wife Mary should die, I will marry
another Mary. |
| 10 |
I resolve not to make a will. Who needs to spend money on a lawyer |
| 11 |
I will live in a house without a number on a very long road which goes
through three enumeration districts on at least two rolls of microfilm. |
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Have a very happy and healthy New Year and happy hunting
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RootsWeb Review: RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine,
28 December 2005, Vol. 8, No. 52, and it is suspected were written by the
editor, Myra Vanderpool Gormle |
