I have a question for the A2Kers from Boston.

As I live more than two hoots and a holler from your fair city, may I seek your advice!


Whilst on holiday in the UK, I chanced upon a church built in 1070 and in the churchyard was a tombstone with the following inscription,

Frances Louisa
Died Aug 9th 1873 Aged 36

wife of William Tarleon Bury.

Daughter of James C. Dunn
Of Boston USA


My question is, "Can anyone tell me how I go about finding out information about the Dunn family of Boston and descendents to check if they know a relative lies so far away from home"

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Hmmm.... I know there's a historical society. Hospitals keep records of births, but that birth was a long time ago.... hmmm...

That's an ex's last name.

I'm not calling her.

I found some interesting things about this people :



Search on the internet also gave more connected results.

Slappy, are you Dunn with her?

Francis, you are Great. Thank you. Right dates, what a good start. I will do as you suggest.



Slappy, as helpful as ever writes, "That's an ex's last name. I'm not calling her."

Hang on, did she have a pale complexion, grey hair, and anorexic? If so, I am afraid I have some grave news.

Sorry everyone, I was showing Mr S how to do quotes (for his Plebius site) and I pressed submit instead of preview.

I was reading the thread.

Please don't hate me!

To make up for the daft post, this may interest people from Boston. It's about the original Boston in the UK. But maybe you know all this?



BOSTON THROUGH THE AGES

A settlement in Boston is believed to date back to 654AD when a Saxon monk named Botolph established a monastery on the banks of the river Witham. The name Boston is said to be derived from "Botolphs town". However more fact-based information on Boston doesn't emerge until the late 11th century.

What we do know is that during the 12th and 13th centuries Boston was a thriving port, and became a member of northern European trading states known as the Hanseatic League by the 14th century Boston had become the fourth-richest provincial town in England. As a symbol of this wealth the old parish church was rebuilt on a grand scale. That symbol still stands today. Dominating the fens the tower of St. Botolph's affectionately known as the "stump", is one of the east of England's most enduring and imposing land-marks.

By the 16th century Boston was a local port handling a wide variety of goods for Lincolnshire but no major national imports or exports. As medieval institutions ended, the leading citizens of Boston received a charter from the King in 1545 to form Boston Corporation to run the town. Within fifty years the town and Corporation were dominated by a spirit of religious reform.

The social and political life of Boston was torn apart by the struggles of the 17th century. Boston was a puritan stronghold and in the 1630s government pressure to conform forced many Bostonians to emigrate to Massachusetts where the new town they named Boston became the capital of the colony.

By 1750 the Witham was so shallow that few vessels could reach Boston and in 1767 the population was only 3,470. In the 1760s the vast Holland Fen to the West of Boston was drained and enclosed and started producing arable crops instead of supporting livestock. The new produce had to be sent by water inland or round the coast to the centres of increasing population, and Boston became a rich boom town flourishing on his new trade.

During the Napoleonic Wars more of the fens around Boston were reclaimed and the coastal traffic of the port grew even greater. Merchants became very wealthy and Boston was the main commercial and industrial town in Lincolnshire. By 1848 it was the largest and richest town in the county but then the Great Northern Railway arrived, giving quicker access than by coastal shipping, and the port's prosperity evaporated. For thirty years the town stagnated until the Corporation built Boston Dock and improved the Haven to start a revival of foreign traffic.

The 20th century saw a greater provision of public services and these included the Municipal Buildings (1904), County Hall (1927), Boston College (1964) and Pilgrim Hospital opened by Princess Anne in 1976. The emphasis on scale also led to boundary extensions to Boston in 1932 and 1974.

And, as we all know, we Puritanical Bostonians have absolutely no moral or family values. Damned Liberals.

Engineer 'unable' to vouch for Big Dig safety

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- The independent engineering specialist who led an investigation into leaks at the $14.6 billion Big Dig project says he can no longer vouch for the safety of its tunnels.

"I am now unable to express an opinion as to the safety of the I-93 portion of the Central Artery," Jack K. Lemley wrote in the March 9 letter to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, a copy of which was obtained by The Boston Globe.

The project -- formally called the Central Artery and Third Harbor Tunnel project -- buried Interstate 93 underneath downtown Boston and connected the Massachusetts Turnpike to Logan International Airport.

Lemley told lawmakers in November that there was no public safety risk to people driving through the tunnels.

In the latest letter, he said new information has surfaced that more than 40 large sections of tunnel wall contain construction defects and that fireproofing material has been damaged by leaks.

He also wrote that project officials have blocked him from obtaining records and data related to the new problems. Lemley added that his change in position also was driven by the apparent lack of any formal plan by Big Dig officials to address the leak problems.

Matthew Amorello, chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the $14.6 billion project, had yet to see the letter, a spokesman told the Globe in Tuesday's editions.

"We believe the tunnels are perfectly safe," spokesman Doug Hanchett said. "If we ever had a reasonable inkling otherwise, we'd close the tunnels. Public safety is always our number one concern."
(article)

Could you imagine the scenario where they'd have to close the tunnel and start over.....?

i shudder ta think...

I dunno, I kind of chuckle to think....

Back in February my SO and I went to a trade show at the Boston Convention Center. Our hotel was 2 miles away from the BCC. We had written instructions from the hotel and a city map I picked up at B&N's. Looked simple - and it would have been if the streets had been labelled and if a cop hadn't told us to do a U turn at the end of a street that actually led to a tunnel which had cars going in from all directions and therefore no U turn could be made. Miles later we popped out of that tunnel with the city behind us - we flip ourselves around on a ramp, got back in the tunnel & popped out again - now we are in Cambridge - we have yet to find a street name on a sign that corresponds with a name on the map. We get directions at a deli head back to city and go around and around - we see Boston from every angle possible in a car. I desperately yell out the window to people on the street begging them to point us to The Sheraton near Dalton - we get various answers and various fingers pointing in various directions - we drive - we continue to drive - we think we should abandon the car and walk as we believe we are close to the hotel and are afraid we might run into that f*^%ing tunnel again. I see an old man on a corner (it's totally dark by now, we left the Center at 4:00) - I plead with him - Where is The Sheraton?,- we are lost and hungry and very cranky - He points across the hood of our car and there it is! - Two hours and 15 minutes to go 2 miles. When we mentioned this to the hotel desk clerk (a cheeky college student) - he laughed and says he hears similar stories all day long.

At least in NY we have the sense to number the streets. In Boston only the initiated know if Franklin St. is before Commerce St. or which square is where.

Amature. <grin> If the cop told you to do it, it was possible.

I think travelers to Boston should use cabs.

Actually LK, we did make a true effort to do what the cop told us by driving up on the pavement by a garbage dumpster and you should have heard the car horns that started blaring at us. My SO has no problem doing some crazy things, but this was truly impossible without death being the outcome.

I agree about the cabs - in fact if we go back next year we agreed to abandon the car somewhere on the outskirts of the city and take public transportation everywhere. It's the advice I give to visitors to NYC as well.

Then, the only other option is that the turn lane had been paved over. I seem to remember there being one there one week and there not being one there the next. It's been like that for years now. The ever-changing landscape that is Boston. Keeps you on your toes.