Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS A Genealogical Study of the Steenrod Family. By Robert L. Steenrod. (Belvidere, Mimeographed by the Author, 1960. 30 p. Indices, references.) This study, the result of some twelve years of research, is presented by the author as a preliminary report on the first four known generations of the Steenrod (Stenrod) family in America. He hopes to add to it in the future, but aware of the frequent losses of family histories by compilers delaying publication, he has decided to make known the present results of his research. The family appears to have had its origin in Norway, but exactly when it first appeared in America is yet unproven. The three earliest known men bearing the name were Edward Stenrod, private in the 7th Company, Upper Battalion of Westchester County, New York, in the 1760's; Cornelius Steenrod (ca. 1737-1795) who first appeared between 1756 and 1764 in the same county; and Ebenezer Steenrod (1744-1836) who first appeared there in 1765. The last two men saw service in the Revolution. In the second and third generation, descendants of Edward settled in Wyoming and Crawford Counties, Pennsylvania. Cornelius' descendants migrated first to West Virginia, and then to Ohio and Illinois, while some of Ebenezer's came to Erie and Potter Counties, Pennsylvania. The author has caref oily annotated each statement, giving his source of information, whether from correspondence with descendants or from primary or secondary source material. He also provides three separate indices: one for descendants bearing Steenrod surnames; one for surnames of descendants in the female lines; and one for names that fall in neither of the two previous categories. The presentation would have been improved considerably if the names of descendants and spouses had been given in capital letters so as to enable the reader to identify them more readily. It would also have been helpful if in the lists of children following the account of each individual, appropriate numbers had preceded each child so as to aid in the following accounts of those children. On the whole, however, the author is to be commended on his industry in uncovering and organizing data which came from many different sources. His example could well be followed by other family historians. RALPH DORNFELD OWEN A Biographical Dictionary of Early American fetus, Colonial Times Through 1800. By Joseph R. Rosenbloom. (Lexington, Ky.: University of Kentucky Press, 1960. xii, 175 p. Bibliography. $10.00.) The compiler of this slender volume, Joseph R. Rosenbloom, is a lecturer in Hebrew at the University of Kentucky, and rabbi of Temple Adath Israel in Lexington. Granted the degree of Doctor of Hebrew Letters in 1957 by Hebrew Union College, he has designed this work to be used as "a source for sociological and cultural analysis, and [as] a basic tool for the study of American Jewish history" during the late seventeenth, eighteenth and early years of the nineteenth century. In his preface Dr. Rosenbloom points out that perhaps twenty percent of the Jewish population of this period still remains obscure and unidentified. He further 266 Book Reviews 267 acknowledges the difficulty of positively identifying as Jewish, persons with names known to have been born by gentiles, such as Cohan, Myer, Levy, Franks and Isaacs. The biographical section is arranged alphabetically, the lists including not only the uncertainly identified individuals which are so noted, but also Jewish converts, and in numerous cases children and other close relatives in all categories. These notices generally are quite brief, except in the case of more prominent individuals whose activities are then given in some detail. Sources for information are identified in each case by reference to the bibliography, set up as a short title index, which is presented at the beginning of the volume. These references in some cases are unsatisfactory, particularly if the researcher is interested in documentation from primary sources. One such example is the reference to the American Jewish Archives at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Some of the archival material at this institution is not primary source material, but has been culled from such sources in other depositories. For example, ,the Wills Collection obviously includes abstracts or copies of wills recorded in various states. References to this collection, therefore, are indefinite, rather than specific, and not very helpful to the researcher. Although designed primarily for use by the historian, the book is also useful as a reference work for the genealogist, if caution is used. This reviewer noted one name, that of Abraham Cassel, listed in 1776 as a yeoman in Philadelphia County, who was suggested as a possible Jewish convert because in his will he asked to be "buried in a Christian-like manner." Any serious and experienced genealogist will recognize this phrase as the standard wording to be found in almost all colonial wills. The phrase is usually written as "in a decent and Christian-like manner." As it happens, this Abraham Cassel (born 31 July 1728, died 15 February 1776, in Upper Salford Township, Philadelphia [now Montgomery] County), was the son of Hupert Cassel, the immigrant of 1717 (died 1745), and his wife Syche Up de Graf, the widow of John Krey. They have all long been identified as Mennonites, and Abraham himself is known to have been buried in Lower Skippack Mennonite Cemetery. The reference in this case, given by Dr. Rosenbloom as the Wills Collection at the American Jewish Archives, might better have been Philadelphia Will Book Q, 270, #225:1776. Abraham's brother Henry, listed by Dr. Rosenbloom since he was mentioned in Abraham's will, inherited his father Hubert's farm in Perkiomen and Skippack Township, and died without issue in 1812, as per Henry's will recorded in Montgomery County Will Book 3, 389. A second instance of an apparently unwarranted assumption by Dr. Rosenbloom is that of Joseph Cauffman, landlord of Mikveh Israel Congregation on Cherry Alley in Philadelphia (born in 1720 and died 10 February 1807), whose alleged son Simon married Rachel N. Cardoza 16 May 1816. Although Joseph's death date is given, no reference to his will, recorded in Philadelphia Will Book 2, 65, #14:1807, is included. In the list of Joseph's children named in his will, no Simon is mentioned, and the testator clearly indicates that he was a member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia. One reference which was listed, apparently for Simon's alleged relationship to Joseph Cauffman, is The history of the Jews of Philadelphia /roes Colonial times to the Age of Jackson, by Edwin Wolf, 2nd, and Maxwell Whiteman. However, the only reference to Simon in that work is found in the Notes (p. 447), wherein Simon is not identified except as a member of Rodeph Shalom Congregation. In the light of these two uncovered examples, this reviewer feels that the book can scarcely be considered as a "basic tool" for genealogists, at least, and wonders how many 268 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine other names are included on similarly slight evidences. It is, however, a handy reference guide, if used with caution. Certainly for data on positively identified Jews, there can be little complaint, for it lists a great many sources of useful biographical information, buried in numerous publications which otherwise would not be located readily. HANNAH RENNER ROACH Searching for Your Ancestors: The How and Why of Genealogy. By Gilbert H. Doane. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, Third edition, 1960. [vi], xvi, 198 p. Appendices, index. $3.95.) When this instruction book was first published in 1937, it received, almost umvenally, enthusiastic reviews. In the revised second edition (1948) the few cnticisms of the first edition were corrected. The fact that in these two editions there have been five printings is a good indication of the book's popularity Now, with the third edition, an additional chapter has been added: .."Getting Ready to Cross the Atlantic," which contains very useful advice for tracing pre-American ancestry. The bibliographical list in Appendix A has been enlarged and brought up to date, and supplemental notes have been added to Appendices B, C, and D. What has been said before of the great value of this book as a guide for the begmner in genealogical research can only be endorsed by this reviewer. It is also an excellent check for the professional searching in unfamiliar areas. Nevertheless there are some sections which still could be improved and made more useful, especially in the bibliographical lists. Particularly noted was the omission of certam basic reference works relating to the Delaware Valley area. Abstracts of New Jersey wills and of the Calendar of Records (1664-1703), published in the First Series of the New Jersey Archives should be included. The Second Series of the Pennsylvania Archives, including transcripts of marriage records, Minutes of the Board of Property, and other useful archival records; the Third Series, including tax lists for the colonial period, cormnissions, patents and land records; and the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Series of military records and mdices, are basic works for genealogical research in this area. It should also be pointed out that strictly speaking, only the first fifty-eight volumes of The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography contain genealogical data, although good use can be made of the later volumes (from 1934 on) by the serious genealogical researcher. WALTER LEE SHEPPARD, JR. The Welsh in America: Letters from the Immigrants. Edited by Alan Conway. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1961. [vi], 323 p. Notes, bibliography. index. $6.00.) This Interesting collection of letters was also published by the University of Wales Press at Cardiff, and by Thomas Allen, Ltd., at Toronto. The editor's preface, written at Aberystwyth in 1959, points out that most of these letters which originally appeared in Welsh publications, were wntten to correspondents in Wales by Welsh emigrants living in America. A few appeared in Welsh periodicals published in the United States, and that generally the writers were located in the Middle West and Far West. As a result, identification of addressees, as well as authors, was ., lmm I impossible. Book Reviews 269 A twelve-page introduction is devoted to a summarization of the background and history of Welsh immigration into the United States. The letters are not usually quoted in their entirety; extracts from them were selected to illustrate the specific headings wider which they are grouped: "Crossing the Atlantic," "The Mother-Lode," "New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio," "Farming in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Tennessee," "Farming in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Texas," "Farming's Last Frontier: Oregon and Washington," "In American Industry: Coalmining, Iron and Steel and Tin-Plate Industries," "On the Mining Frontiers," "During the Civil War," "In Search of Zion." From these extracts—a mosaic of individual viewpoints—a general picture emerges of the post-Revolutionary period. Mr. Conway follows the immigrants from their homes to the port, and across the ocean to the Welsh communities in the United States. The influence of the important religious leaders, almost all Protestant and puritanical, is stressed in both the organization of the migrations, and in the planning of new communities. He points out the clannishness of the Welsh, their conservatism, and their "immobility," that is, their tendency to remain in the centers where they first settled. He further points out that they generally prospered more in the northern, rather than m the southern states, and in farming or mining communities. The material here is presented primarily as a social study of a particular microcosm of our heritage. But it also has usefulness as a source for background or environmental data relating to nineteenth century Welsh families. If it had been possible to identify the writers and their correspondents and supply missing dates it would have been even more useful genealogically. Each letter is identified as to its source and the date of publication, in the reference notes at the end of the volume, but as these are set up in continuous lines, the particular reference is difficult to locate. WALTER LEE SHEPPARD, „TR. A Hampshire Miscellany, I: Metropolitan Visitation of the Archdeaconry of Winchester, 1607-1608. Arthur J. Willis, comp. (79 p. Appendix, indices. $3.00.) A Hampshire Miscellany, II: Laymen's Licenses of the Diocese of Winchester, 1675-1834. Arthur J. Willis, comp. 28 p. (Appendices, indices. $1.50.) Hampshire Marriage Licenses, 1669-1680. Arthur J. Willis, comp. (viii, 133 p. Index. $6.50.) Winchester Ordinations, 1660-1829, I: Ordinands' Papers, 1734-1827. Arthur J. Willis, comp. (xiv, 203 p. Appendices, indices. $9.I0.) These four volumes, all published by Mr. Willis at Hambleden, Lyminge, Folkestone, Kent, England, continue his presentation of extracts from the archives of the Diocesan Registry at Winchester. A previous volume of this series was reviewed in this Magazine, Volume XXII, 154. The first volume of the Hampshire Miscellany presents in abstracted form cases of church discipline entered ffom October, 1607, to August, 1608. These cases cover matters ranging from negligence in church attendance, Sabbath breaking, various sexual offenses: adultery, bastardy, incontinence; offenses by church wardens, negligence in church repairs, and similar matters coming under the jurisdiction of the archbishop. The 659 entries, numbered serially, are referred to in three separate indices, one for names, one for parishes, and one for offenses. The second volume of the Miscellany contains abstracts of licenses granted to schoolmasters, physician-5 and surgeons, midwives and parish clerks, as well as a few grants 270 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine of a miscellaneous nature: permission to go to a church other than the parish church, to eat meat in Lent, and licenses granted to lay readers and preachers. Original documenu, from which the abstracts were taken, are mostly in testimonial or nomination form, and are so indicated in the abstracts. Twenty- two of the abstracts date from 1607 to 1640. Two appendices include lists of miscellaneous manuscript collections deposited in the Diocesan archives relating to schools and education, and a short list of license records exhibited, abstracted from Visitation Book No. 66. There are two indices, one of names and one of places. Available in paper covers only, and paged consecutively, -these two volumes are the first in a series contemplated by Mr. Willis. Subsequent volumes will include abstracts of Dissenters' Meeting House certificates, 1702 - 1804; guardianship papers, 1700 - 1810, and similar records. Hampshire Marriage Licenses continues the similar record for 1607 - 1640, also published by Mr. Willis, and precedes the period of the "Hampshire Marriage Allegations" for 1689 - 1839, published in the Genealogist's Magazine of June and September, 1962. The records in the current volume run from 31 March 1669, to 18 March 1673/4, and from 11 March 1677/8 to 29 December 1680. The licenses give parish and condition (bachelor, widow, spinster, etc.) of the participating parties, place of marriage and date of license. Occasionally the man's occupation is also given, and bondsmen, if of the same name as either party, are included with their particulars. The abstracts of 'Winchester Ordinations, in all 2294 items numbered serially, usually furnish the name of the ordinand, his degree, college, any description appearing, testimonials, birth and/or baptismal record, title, certificate or "si pis" that the intention to be ordained had been published in the ordinand's parish church. These data thus frequently furnish information not to be found elsewhere, especially if parish registers are no longer extant. It is to be noted that candidates seem to have come from all parts of England; Mr. Willis observes that quite a considerable number came from Cumberland, for instance items 440, 559, 583, 866, others came from Wales and even a few from the colonies. Typical examples of the various records noted in the abstracts appear in the appendices. There are five separate indices. Two are for names of ordinands and for "Stray Names." Two are devoted to the curacies mentioned: one for those in the Diocese of Winton, the other for those outside the diocese. The fifth index includes miscellaneous names, places and organizations. Each of these volumes is pnnted by offset from typed copy, and though their contents are presented in abstracted and very abbreviated form, which does not lend itself to hasty reading, a list of the abbreviations used in each volume precedes the abstracts. Mr. Willis has included also interesting and helpful introductory notes explaining the records abstracted. Without these remarks, the records as presented would have little meaning to the researcher. The decipherment of the original records, the transcription and arrangement of these abstracts represents an inordinate amount of labor, for which Mr. Willis is to be highly commended. More work of this nature should be done on both sides of the Atlantic. HANNAH BENNER ROACH Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research. By Margaret Dickson Palley. (Strasburg, Va.: Published for the author by Shenandoah Publishing House, 1962. Two vol. umes. 813 p., 354 p. Indices. $35.00, boxed.) This magnificent work by Mrs. Palley is the result of more than ten years' study Book Reviews 271 of original source material in Ireland and elsewhere, and of all the printed material related to the subject which she has unearthed in a wide variety of places. It is an absolute must for anyone seeking data on the pre-American ancestry of any Irish or Scotch-Trials immigrant. Mrs. Falky starts by advising the student to be sure that he has collected all the information available in America on his subject immigrant before starting to trace him overseas. She supplies examples of the kind of information which may be available, of which the average student may be unaware. Mrs. Falley then discusses the determination of geographical origin, and the territorial structure of Ireland, indicating atlases, gazeteers and other printed directories which may be used to "place" the ancestor. After this comes a most comprehensive description of the various record depositories; over 110 pages are devoted to the records themselves, what they contain, and how to use them. A Family Name Index and a General Index complete the first volume. The second volume is a bibliography of published and manuscript records, collections, periodicals and family histories; published source material and microfilms, and a most useful catalogue of similar material available in many of the United States depositories. The volume concludes with a Subject Index. For those interested in further detail, the reader is directed to the reviews by Milton Rubicam in the National Genealogical Quarterly and in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, both of which appeared in 1963. This reviewer feels that one paragraph in each of these reviews, relating to the records of the Roman Catholic parish registers, perhaps requires emendation. Mrs. Falley has listed the basic data on each of the known parishes of the Established Church (Episcopal), since this data is not available in compiled form elsewhere. To supply the same data on each Roman Catholic parish would probably require 300 to 400 pages, and would only duplicate the information printed in Thom's Irish Almanac for 1847. Readers of Mrs. FaIley's work are therefore told (I, 465) to consult that book for specific parish data. He can then check for availability (p. 464) of microfilms, or refer to the records ki the Public Record Office at Belfast, listed by Mrs. Falley (pp. 466-470). Since this latter list does not contain all parishes of Northern Ireland, this reviewer therefore presumes that the missing ones are lost or in church custody. For a work of this size . and completeness, it appears that Mn. Palley has solved the problem of presenting the mass of information in the best possible manner. It is available only from Mrs. Falley, 999 Michigan Avenue, Evanston, Ill. WALTER LEE SHEPPARD, JR. Names of Persons for Whom Marriage Licenses were Issued in the Province of Pennsylvania Previous to 1790. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1963. 292 p. 87.10.) Reprinted by offset from the 1890 edition of The Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, Volume II, this edition of Pennsylvania marriage licenses is a welcome addition to the growing list of reprints issued by the Genealogical Book Company, formerly the Southern Book Company. Long out of print, its republication now enables the searcher to acquire this reference work when he cannot locate or does not wish to invest in a complete set of the Second Series. Librarians will welcome it as a useful replacement for worn copies of the original series. 272 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine For those not familiar with the original, these marriage licenses are arranged alphabetically by surname of both bride and groom, the date the license was issued preceding the surname. An addenda (pp. 276 - 292) presents a supplement to and corrections of the main list. It is also arranged alphabetically and was originally supplied by Charles R. Hildeburn from the records of Christ Church and First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, and from Abington, Montgomery Co. Presbyterian, and Trinity Church, Oxford, Episcopal records. The dates in this addenda, except where italicized, are the actual dates of marriage. Omitted in this reprint are the sample form of license and marriage bond issued to and filled out by each applicant, arid a number of letters, dated from 1782 to 1796, referring to the subject of marriage licenses. In the original edition these appear on pages 5 to II. It should be noted, also, that this reprint includes only the marriage licenses; it is not a reprint of the entire second volume. HANNAH BENNER ROACH Baptisms! Records of Apple's Church, Lutheran and Reformed, near Moment, Maryland, 1773-1848. (Hudson, Wis.: Star Observer Print. 1963. 90 p. Illustrations, index. $3.25.) The present volume is a revision of the transcript, made in 1857 by Dr. E. E. Higbee, of the original church manuscript in the collections of the Historical Society of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, Lancaster, Pa. Miss Elizabeth Kieffer, whose check list of records of the Reformed Church in the United States appeared in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Sept., 1960), has checked Dr. Higbee's transcript against the original and prepared the index for this publication of the baptismal records, sponsored by Willis H. Miller, editor of the Hudson StarObserver. The records are preceded by a brief but interesting history of the origin and development of Apple's Church (located in the northern part of Frederick County about six or seven miles south of the Pennsylvania-Maryland boundary). The church record itself is arranged in the standard form adopted by Dr. Hinke in his translations of baptismal records. The pagination of the original, indicated in parentheses in the text, is referred to in the index, rather than the pagination of this volume. This arrangement will facilitate checking the original in case of any doubt regarding entries. While a number of typographical errors mar the introductory history, and the same type face, in which the original pagination from 115 on is set, should have been used throughout, these minor drawbacks do not materially lessen the value of this record. Many of the family names entered in it indicate a probable Pennsylvania origin: lkyerle, Bingeman, Croll, Demuth, Groff, Mayer, Reitenauer and Troxel are only a few. 'The searcher who has "lost" a family by removal would do well to consult this volume. HANNAH BENNER ROACH A Bibliography of ship Passenger Lists, 1538-1825. Being a Guide to Published Lists of Early Immigrants to North America. Compiled by Harold Lancour. Third Edition. Revised and Enlarged by Richard J. Wolfe. With a List of Passenger Arrival Records in the National Archives by Frank E. Bridgers. (New York: The New York Public Library, 1963. ix, 137 p. Appendices, indices. $5-00.) This revised edition of Lancour's Passenger Lists of Ships Coming to North Anserka, Corrections and Additions 273 which first appeared in 1937 and has long been out of print, is a welcome addition to the genealogist's "finding aids." Handsomely presented, this edition includes more readily identifiable cross references to the 262 items—increased from 102 items in the original—and clearer references to original sources. Many new passenger lists are included, those for Pennsylvania now numbering 76, as compared to the original 31. It should be noted, however, that some of the new listings are duplications of lists published in both German and American periodicals. As in the original pamphlet, the lists are arranged first, for "All Ports," then by individual states, with inclusive dates for each list preceding each title. Appendix I presents 18 lists of passengers arriving between 1825 and 1898. These are not arranged geographically, but under the earliest date of entry. They represent "random discoveries" only, and were included because of their "usefulness to genealogists and historians and as a possible point of departure" in the compilation of a more comprehensive list coveting this period (p. 87). Appendix II presents passenger arrival records to be found in the National Archives in Washington, which were first published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly in 1962 (Vol. 50, 140-145). Table A shows ports or districts for which the National Archives has passenger lists, with dates for each type of list. Table B shows what indices, both card and book, to those passenger lists are in the Archives. Two indices, one of authors and contributors, the other of ship names mentioned in the cited lists, complete the volume. Where those cited lists have been previously published, the latter index also includes volume and page numbers of the original publication. The only crtttcism this reviewer has to make is a minor one. It might have been a little more helpful to the searcher if the states had been arranged in alphabetical order, rather than in their present physical geographical order, i.e., from Maine in the north to Louisiana in the south. However, this criticism probably only serves to reveal the present reviewer as too lazy to refer to the table of contents! HANNAH BENNER ROACH CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS The reader's attention is called to the folios/lug errors, both typographical and factual, which appear in Numbers 2 and 3 of this present Volume. The Editor is indebted to Miss Ida C. Townsend, Mr. Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., Mrs. Mary S. Patterson, Dr. George E. McCracken and Mr. Conrad Wilson for their notices of these errors. p. 38, Note 30: For Joseph Powel, read Powell. p. 42, Note 48: Charles Plumley, joiner, b. 9 12m 1674; d. 1708, was a son of Charles Plumley, Sr., of Wells Parish, Somersetshire, and his wife Margery (not Margaret, as given an p. 45, Note 65, under Henry Paxson) Page, of Butcomb Parish, who were m. 11 12m 1665. Their other children, in addition to the above Charles, were , William Plumley, b. 7 10m 1666; James Plumley, b. 22 6m 1668, who d. young; James Plumley (2nd), b. 3 2m 1669; Joseph Plumley, b. 31 8m 1671, all of whom were born in Wells Parish; John Plumley, b. 8 7m 1677; George Plumley, b. 14 4m 1680, both born in