Four weeks in, and this is starting to feel somewhat normal. I started writing this blog from the point of view of an outsider, but I don't feel so much like an outsider anymore. I must say I am truly impressed by the students around me.  The best term I've been able to think of for them is "civilized." They are polite, not only to me, but to one another.  They hold doors open, not only for me, but for one another.  Always.  Every time, every day.  They will wait a few seconds for an approaching student to reach the door, much longer than I would expect.  They are surprisingly quiet.  A throng of students will be crossing the pedestrian bridge between East and West campus (pics below), and one only hears a murmur of conversation.  They are rarely loud, rarely boisterous.  If there is a loud group everyone turns to look, as though they were hearing something unusual that needs to be checked on. They are happy, they are tolerant, they are busy, they are adults attending one of the best colleges in the country.

Early morning, walking toward the bridge.  The harbor is in the distance to the left.

The pedestrian bridge from West Campus to East Campus.

View from the pedestrian bridge.  Pacific and palm trees.

Leaving the bridge heading for East Campus.

Morton Bay Fig tree on East Campus in the early morning sun.

My geography classroom.  I was in this same room back in the 80's for geology.
 This is the only class I have on East Campus.

The pedestrian bridge looking toward West Campus.

Week One - New Surroundings, New Classes, New Friends?

Santa Barbara City College is perched on two hills overlooking a popular surfing beach, the harbor, and the city.   Here is a short video I shot the first day of classes, panning from the beach to the library, near the building where I have most of my classes.

All but one of my classes are in the Interdisciplinary Center, or IDC, on West Campus.  This is a convenient location near the bus stop, parking, the Luria Library, and a snack shop.

The IDC

Room 211 - Both of my history classes are here.

It is odd to sit in a classroom again, and I am still very much aware of the decades separating these new students and myself.  I did think I had spotted another student of my generation, another white-haired woman, waiting for the first session of my Western Civilization class to begin.  I plopped down in the desk beside her, and with a relieved and eager smile, said "Let's be friends!"  As it turned out, she was simply the mother-in-law of the professor, visiting her daughter, sitting in on one class to watch him teach.

I have, however, had one young student befriend me.  She sat behind me in the first meeting of one of the honors sections, saying "Hi, aren't you in my English class?  Have you started the reading?  Isn't it strange?"  I have hope.

My first day of school.

The 63-Year-Old Coed

Much and little has happened since my last blog post chronicling my 2010 summer trip.

I am now returning to my blog with the idea of reporting my new adventure.  At the age of 63, my flowing white locks frizzing and blowing in the wind, I am becoming a coed.  I am amazed to now have the opportunity to follow my dream, to become a historian/genealogist.  Late bloomer indeed.

Tomorrow, August 25, 2014, will be my first day of classes at Santa Barbara City College as a History major in the Honors Program.  I have my backpack (dayglow lime green!), my books, my notebooks and pencils.  I have the parking permit affixed to my windshield.  I am ready to go.

Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA

This post has a lot of pictures.  To see them better, just click on them and they will open in a bigger window.  Click again, and they will be nearly full screen.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

 I wonder why I feel so comfortable in the "past", in 1800's era buildings and towns.  Maybe it's because my family spent many happy hours when I was very young at Knott's Berry Farm, which at the time was just the old Ghost Town, the Indian Village, Old MacDonald's farm, and the Chicken Dinner Restaurant.  Maybe my most recent "previous life" was lived in the second half of the 1800's.  I just know that when I'm in a historical setting of that era, I'm happy.  On this hot, sunny day in Massachusetts I was very happy indeed.

Old Sturbridge Village is the most complete reconstruction and re-enactment of a past time that I have ever visited.  Consisting of over forty original buildings brought to the site from all over New England, the village includes shops, places of worship, homes, farms, mills and more.  Knowledgeable, costumed staff go about their daily chores and lead tours of the buildings.  One of my favorite things about Old Sturbridge Village was the children; day-campers dressed in period costume, learning period farming and manufacturing techniques, and playing period games.  The sight, sound, and enthusiasm of these young people gave the village a "complete" feel that I haven't experienced in other historic reconstructions.

 Young women baking from an old recipe book in the Small House, the first structure one comes to approaching the village.

View toward village from Small House, showing back of Fenno barn.

Center Meetinghouse

Tin Shop demonstration

Day-campers in period dress eating lunch and playing games

Yarn dyeing demonstration at Fenno Barn

 Circular garden near Fenno exhibit.  I would like to copy this format in my own small yard.

I love roosters.

Quinebaug River Boat Ride

I came across this girl leading the calf twice during my visit.  The first time she told me that she was "socializing" it, getting it used to being around people so it would be able to grow up there.  The second time I saw her she was trying to get it out of this pasture, and I asked if I could take their picture.  She said "of course", but was then very apologetic that her eyeglasses were not of the period!  I thought she and the calf (which I think was named Betsy) were very sweet.

The Freeman Farmhouse

After visiting the Freeman Farmhouse I took the Pasture Walk, which climbs up above the village.

The rail fence ended at this lovely stone post.

The view from the top of the Pasture Walk.

I returned to the village via the Woodland Walk.

 The kiln at the pottery.

After my slow-paced and quiet day spent at Old Sturbridge Village, I drove about 135 miles southwest, through the state of Connecticut to Fishkill, New York.  I expected the Connecticut countryside to be beautiful, but I saw very little of it.  The toll highway went through a corridor of trees most of the trip.  Nothing to see but pavement, cars and trees.  Whoopee.  On top of that it's a toll road, so no interesting little towns to go through, just manufactured stops with chain gas stations and burger joints.  Yuck.  I could have taken a much more scenic route, I'm sure, but it would have taken much longer to drive and I was on a tight schedule.  The next day, I would be at the races at Lime Rock Park!

Taunton, MA (Day Two)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The Old Colony Historical Society library didn't open until 10am, so I had some time in the morning to explore Taunton.  I drove to the area where most of the family lived, known as "The Wier."  I had found information from the 1970's in the "Burt box" about an old family house that was still standing.  After spending some time being thoroughly lost I located the spot but the house was long gone.  "Still standing" in the 1970's didn't mean it would still be standing in 2010.  Oh well.

On my way back to the library I suddenly saw an old cemetery, and then saw the sign, "Neck-O-Land."  I was amazed.  I had planned to visit the cemetery while I was in Taunton, but I didn't expect it to be where it was.  It's a tiny little plot of land right next to the road with houses all around it.

From across the street it looked like the gate was chained and locked, but of course I had to find a way in.  When I got to the gate I saw that the chain ended in pliable links that could be opened by hand, so in I went.  This is a very old New England cemetery, the kind of place I've wanted to see for a long time.  Family historians love cemeteries for the information found on the stones, and just for the sense of being in a place that is linked to their ancestor.  I had found this place listed as the last resting place of a number of early Burts.

I only found one Burt stone still legible, that of my 7th-Great Grandmother, Grace (Andrews) Burt.  It reads "Here lies the body of Grace Burt the wife of Abel Burt aged 43 died 179 (possibly 1709) Sept. ye 19."

When I arrived back at the library Andrew was true to his word and brought me the "Briggs box."  I should explain that these boxes are filled with research done by both amateurs and professionals, and donated to the Society.  Within this box I found a copy of an article published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register from April 1971 entitled "Richard, William, and Hugh, Sons of John Briggs of Taunton, Massachusetts."  This fascinating article shows that before 1660 there were at least five men in the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies who bore the name "John Briggs."  By careful examination of records including wills and land records, these five men can be distinguished from one another.  This article gives the descendents of John Briggs of Taunton, which include one Thomas Briggs whose children include: SARAH, b. 10 Dec. 1693; d. 22 Nov. 1783; mar. ABEL BURT.  Genealogy Happy Dance!  I had found "my" Briggs line, and from a well-respected source!

The unexpected extra day spent in Taunton forced a change of plan.  I had planned to spend that day in Wrentham and Upton, exploring more family history.  But the treasure trove that is the Old Colony Historical Society was well worth the extra time spent there.

Taunton, MA

[It's taken me a long time to get back to this blog. Part of the delay was from trying to figure out how to present the time spent in genealogical research. Hopefully, things will flow better now.]

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I love family history because:

1. I love my family.
2. I love puzzles and mysteries.
3. I love research, and research environments.
4. I love figuring out how to find a tiny thread of information and follow that thread to new discoveries.
5. I love the interesting people I meet along the way.
6. I love the discovery that history was made by real people, in real places, living their lives the best they could and sometimes doing extraordinary things along the way.
7. Etc., etc., etc.

A short review of the steps that brought me to Taunton, MA:

1. Many hours spent reading reels of microfilm at the Santa Barbara Family History Center, pouring over the births, marriages, deaths and censuses for Eaton County, Michigan, where my Dad was born and raised.
2.  Discovering from those reels that my Dad was descended from Jonathan Searles and his wife Sally Burt who were among the first settlers in the area, and the first to settle on the prairie that is now Charlotte, Michigan.
3. Discovering in the Michigan State Library in Lansing, a book entitled "They Left Their Mark", about William Austin Burt who surveyed much of Michigan, in the process discovering the rich iron ore deposits in the Northern Peninsula.  He also invented the solar compass and the first typewriter.
4. Discovering from "They Left Their Mark" that William Austin Burt was the brother of "my" Sally Burt (#2 above), and therefore the lineage of William Austin that was included in the book applied to Sally (and me) as well.  That ancestry led back to Burts in Taunton, MA in the early 1630's.
5. Verifying through internet sources that the ancestry presented in the book is generally accepted and therefore possibly correct.  Discovering that there is a book that includes a section on "The Taunton Burts", but not having immediate access to the book.

So, visiting Taunton (about 40 miles south of Boston) was one of the key goals of this trip.  I discovered through the AAA Tour Book for the area that the Old Colony Historical Society Museum and Library had genealogical holdings, so I checked them out online and found that they specialize in Southeastern Massachusetts and particularly the Taunton area prior to 1850.  Just what I was looking for!

As soon as I entered the building I was greeted by a very nice woman, and told her I was there for genealogical research.  She asked me what family I was researching and I told her "Burt."  Her immediate reply was, "You've come to the right place."  She then showed me into the office and introduced me to their Director, Jane Hennedy.  She gave me a handout regarding their rules and holdings to look over while she called their archivist to let him know I was there.  When she got off the phone with him she said, "I don't want to scare you, but he said he'll get out the Burt boxes."  Scared by boxes of materials?  I was delighted!

Soon the archivist, Andrew D. Boisvert, arrived.  He asked me which Burt I was descended from, Richard or James.  When I immediately responded "Richard" he seemed pleased that I had some familiarity with the subject.  He led me up a beautiful staircase (oak?) to the library, gave me a place to work, and showed me where the items he thought would be of use were shelved.  I was in heaven.

My workspace with my laptop and the "Burt box."

I spent the morning and early afternoon entering data from town vital records books directly into my laptop (a great time saver), poring through the Burt box, and reading "The Taunton Burts" section of the Burt book mentioned earlier.

Andrew came by to check on my progress, and I asked for help on one item I'd found in the Burt book.  Regarding George Burt it said, "He settled on the easterly side of Norton avenue in Taunton, about 1757, on part of the farm of his grandfather, Thomas Briggs, having bought the rights of two of his mother's sisters."  I knew that George's parents were Abel Burt and Sarah Briggs, so this Thomas Briggs must be Sarah's father.  I was having trouble linking him to the Briggs family in several published Briggs histories on the shelves.  Andrew suggested that I check the Probate Records.  There I found the will of one Thomas Briggs of Taunton, naming his wife, sons, and daughters, including "Sarah Burt."  Voila!  This was clearly the "right" Thomas Briggs, but he still didn't link to the published Briggs material.

When Andrew stopped by again at the end of the day I told him my dilemna.  He said the Briggs books were mostly about the Briggs families further north, but if I came back the next day he would bring me the "Briggs box" that contained items more local to Taunton.  Oh yeah, I would definitely be back tomorrow!