George Washington gave his farewell address September 17, 1796.
George Washington gave his farewell address September 17, 1796.
New London Historical Society (CT) is doing a terrific job serializing Joshua Hempstead’s diary on their site.
Styled the Joshua Hempstead Blog – each entry of his diary captures the details of life in Colonial Connecticut. Hempstead’s diary entries are dated from September 8, 1711 through November 3, 1758. He died 22 December 1758.
According to historian Bruce P. Stark, “The diary, the only one of its kind in Connecticut, fills over 700 tightly-packed, printed pages and provides a detailed picture of the life of Hempstead, his family, neighbors, and acquaintances. It also includes a great deal of information about events in New London and eastern Connecticut.” See his complete article: Joshua Hempstead published on the Connecticut Heritage Gateway.
I am looking forward to reading his diary entries for the time his sight was restored in 1831. Here is the account from the newspaper Connecticut Courant 12 July 1831
According to the newspaper he was blind for ten years but being “of an industrious habit” he went to work in his fields every day.
One day after being “led into the field” … “while at work, he placed, as usual, his staff in the centre of a hill of corn, as a guide when stooping with a quick motion, the top of the staff struck his eyebrow a violent blow and glanced over the eye, producing a severe pain.” The blow restored his sight and he “hastened home alone, bearing the joyful tidings, to his astonished and happy family.”
Now – that’s a great family story. If you don’t have your ancestor’s diary passed down in the family or preserved at a historical society – check and see if the stories of their lives were recorded in one of the 3,800+ newspapers in GenealogyBank.
It’s a Great Day for Genealogy!
Many thanks to Barbara Matthews for alerting me to the New London Historical Society’s decision to put Joshua Hempstead’s diary online.
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GenealogyBank adds more newspapers.
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville Sun, The (Gainesville, FL)
Obituaries: 03/19/1995 – Current
Death Notices: 02/18/1995 – 08/31/2008
Newport, Vermont
Newport Daily Express, The (Newport, VT)
Obituaries: 07/24/2008 – Current
Death Notices: 07/25/2008 – Current
GenealogyBank added and expanded 32 newspapers from 23 states.
16 new titles.
Click and search them right now.
California
Benecia. California Gazette*. 1 issue. 1851-07-12
Colorado
Denver. Denver Mirror* 33 issues. 1874-06-28 to 1875-05-30
Connecticut
Bristol. Bristol Press*. 2007-12-28 to Present
Manchester. Journal Inquirer*. 2004-03-08 to Present
Middletown. Constitution. 20 issues. 1856-12-31 to 1857-12-02
New London. New London Daily Star. 120 issues. 1837-01-05 to 1858-09-02
DC
Washington. Reconstructionist* 2 issues. 1866-02-10 to 1866-03-24
Idaho
Blackfoot. Morning News*. 2008-08-02 to Present
Illinois
Chicago. Chicago Times. 77 issues. 1855-01-16 to 1856-07-03
Indiana
Terre Haute. Wabash Courier. 18 issues. 1840-10-31 to 1841-12-25
Kansas
Kansas City. Kansas City Kansan*. 2008-08–12 to Current
Louisiana
New Orleans. New Orleans Argus*. 117 issues. 1828-01-19 to 1832-09-29
Maryland
Baltimore. American and Commercial Daily Advertiser. 3,722 issues. 1801-07-15 to 1820-12-30
Baltimore. Federal Republican. 66 issues. 1811-01-01 to 1811-03-18
Cumberland. Weekly Civilian. 126 issues. 1859-03-17 to 1861-09-26
Montana
Great Falls. Montana Herold. 260 issues. 1893-05-04 to 1899-05-25
Nevada
Carson City. Nevada Appeal*. 2000-07-04 to Present
New Hampshire
Concord. New Hampshire Patriot*. 545 issues. 1878-10-10 to 1890-04-10
New Jersey
Trenton. Trenton State Gazette. 602 issues. 1848-01-01 to 1850-12-31
New York
Albany. Albany Evening Journal. 1 issue. 1854-08-19
New York. Morning Telegraph*. 509 issues. 1870-01-02 to 1879-12-28
New York. New York Herald. 50 issues. 1871-06-18 to 1871-08-09
New York. New York Herald-Tribune*. 527 issues. 1858-01-01 to 1877-09-24
North Dakota
Valley City. Valley City Times-Record*. 2008-06-02 to Present
Ohio
Cincinnati. Cincinnati Daily Enquirer. 2,065 issues. 1861-01-04 to 1876-09-30
Oklahoma
Poteau. Poteau Daily News & Sun*. 2009-07-29 to Present
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia. National Gazette. 1,558 issues. 1822-12-03 to 1841-04-08
Philadelphia. Public Ledger. 1,103 issues. 1840-09-17 to 1868-05-30
Rhode Island
Providence. Manufacturers’ and Farmers’ Journal. 52 issues. 1820-08-07 to 1870-01-03
South Carolina
Charleston. City Gazette. 200 issues. 1826-01-02 to 1826-12-30
Vermont
Milton. Milton Independent*. 2009-01-08 to Present
West Virginia
Keyser. Mineral Daily*. 2009-04-05 to Present
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