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 write his New Year’s resolutions.
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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I resolve to move to a new town, new county, or new state at least once every ten years–just before those pesky enumerators come around asking silly questions.
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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.
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I resolve to join an obscure religious cult that does not believe in record keeping or in participating in military service.
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When the tax collector comes to my door, I’ll loan him my pen, which has been dipped in rapidly fading blue ink.
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I resolve that if my beloved wife Mary should die, I will marry another Mary.
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I resolve not to make a will. Who needs to spend money on a lawyer?
Of course, birth and death dates in genealogy are important to have. While backtracking one family group, I came upon a death date entry indicating only that the man’s demise was “None too soon.”
Thanks to Bob Schimmel
Previously published in RootsWeb Review: 14 February 2007, Vol. 10, No. 7.
