Friday, December 23, 2011

Daniel Steadman's Journal


Daniel Steadman's Journal
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel
Update: As this journal had been accepted as proof of a death date in my Mayflower papers for the family of Tourgee who married into the Billington family, I have been working on the genealogical information presented throughout and in the Appendix of this transcribed and edited (by Cherry Bamburg) journal.


I have discovered that Daniel Steadman was my first cousin, 6 times removed. Our common ancestors were his grandparents, Daniel Stedman and wife Susannah Perry. They were one set of my 6th great grandparents.

This is the previous post:
Purchased on a whim, this journal of Daniel Stedman, published by the Rhode Island Genealogical Society is going to be a treasure trove of genealogical "stuff" that isn't available anywhere else.

I had heard this many times, but I didn't believe it until I sat down to browse through the contents.

Apparently Daniel was a friend and neighbor to my Jabez Champlin Gardiner! He is referred to as J. C. Gardner in this book. Daniel often borrowed his wagon and horse to go to funerals/burials and to haul shingles and such. He is mentioned on many pages and most are like this:

October 17, 1838 p. 163
"...I Let J.C. Gardner have 12 Dollars which paid my part of the School House Money and he gave me a receipt..."

Daniel left us a great journal. I imagine he would have been shocked that we enjoyed it in this 21st century.

This book is going to be very valuable to the understanding of my ancestors who lived in Rhode Island during this time period. I am early reading the well done introduction, genealogy charts and the index.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Looking for leads as to a connection to Christopher Allen b. 1748 in South Kingston and a possible unknown Stedman wife possibly married about 1774 in South Kingston RI. Son of Christopher names his son Stedman.