Friday, June 10, 2016

Research Adventures over the Years

I've had some interesting adventures while researching over the  past 26 years. I will be sharing a few of those over the next few days.

#1. My first venture into trying to verify the story of Captain Zachariah Rhodes' death at sea began with the Salt Lake Institute during the early 2000s. The week was moderately successful, but Zachariah's story was not verified to my satisfaction.

I did find a confirmation that the event took place in the Gorton Genealogy. Later I found more detail in the Roger Williams biography volume on his daughter Mercy. The book cited Gorton. My big breakthrough came at Boston on a trip to the NEHGS Library. Volume VII of the Holden Family in America included notes on Zachariah: ship [Hannah], port of departure [Baltimore], destination [Puerto Rico] and date of departure [14 Aug 1815]. Holden also cited Gorton.

The odd part of the quest: Of the three sources, Gorton had the least amount of detail on Zachariah!

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