What Matters: January 2002
Faces from the Past: The Joys of Genealogy
By Harl Aldrich '47, ScD '51
When I discovered that one of my ancestors, Ebenezer Seymour, was a notorious counterfeiter of Connecticut and Rhode Island paper currency in the early eighteenth century and further, that I was descended from Captain Myles Standish, my interest in family genealogy was piqued! So, following my retirement nine years ago from Haley & Aldrich, Inc., I began a search for all my ancestors. Results of the research have been published in two books: A Branch of the Aldrich Family in America (1996) and George Lathrop Cooley and Clara Elizabeth Hall, Their Ancestors and Descendants in America (2001).
Now, genealogical research isn't for everyone, and I've discovered over the years that eyes begin to glaze over when I talk about the subject. However, MIT prepared me to do this kind of research which demands that one investigate leads and hunches, keep careful notes and record the sources of all information. One becomes a detective and will likely become addicted to the hunt.
All of my ancestors, with one exception, immigrated to New England in the seventeenth century, primarily to Massachusetts and Connecticut. Thus, my search was relatively easy compared to that undertaken by other genealogy buffs.
To begin with, Boston has an outstanding library at the New England Historic Genealogical Society located on Newbury Street, a library founded over 150 years ago that concentrates on records of New England and New York ancestors. In the reading room, one will occasionally hear a loud "Bingo!" when a researcher finds a lost or important ancestor. I blurted it out myself when Gary Boyd Roberts, senior research scholar, told me I was descended from an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England, and showed me the references. I'm sure there are a hundred thousand others in the United States who could claim the same, but don't know it.
I was excited to find that another ancestor, John Heald, was an early settler in my hometown of Concord, Massachusetts, in 1636. His property was located on land now occupied by the Minute Man National Historical Park Visitor Center which overlooks the Old North Bridge. Had his descendants held onto the property, they would have witnessed the battle between British troops and colonial militiamen on 19 April 1775. Ralph Waldo Emerson coined the phrase "the shot heard 'round the world" to describe the significance of the battle.
My ancestors were primarily subsistence farmers, craftsmen, teachers and Congregational ministers. They purchased or were granted land in new towns, virgin forests they cleared to establish their farms, organize their churches and raise large families. In the early 1800s, they migrated westward to upper New York State and Ohio, as did many of the descendants of seventeenth century immigrants to New England. My father and mother were born in Indiana and Ohio, respectively, and were married in Spokane, Washington, where I was born.
Of course, I have my share of ancestors who were veterans of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. One Revolutionary War veteran, Jonathan Lilly, also fought in the last major battle in the French and Indian wars, a 44-day assault on the formidable fortress at Havana, Cuba, that ended in victory on 12 August 1762. The regiment had major losses from the campaign, from the battle itself and from the tropical climate and the "ravages of the pestilence." His company of 96 men lost 38 dead while 9 deserted.
American history has far more meaning to me now than it did 10 years ago!
I prepared camera-ready copy for my books, published in hard cover by Penobscot Press of Rockport, Maine. The books are more than vital records of birth, marriage and death. I made an attempt to flesh out these statistics with items of human interest, both good and bad. A principal focus of the research was to identify with maps and descriptions, the "exact" location where each ancestor lived, attended church and was buried. Numerous photographs are included.
My Aldrich book traces ten generations of the family that begin with George Aldrich who arrived in Dorchester, Massachusetts (now part of Boston) from Derbyshire, England, in 1631, and end with my father. He was Harl Preslar Aldrich. I have substantial evidence that one of our ancestors was Valentin Bresseler (Presler) who emigrated from Germany to Colonial New York with other Palatine families in 1709. Elvis Presley was descended from Valentin! My grandchildren think it's cool that Elvis was probably a cousin of some stripe.
The Cooley-Hall book arrived from the publisher last July. George and Clara (Hall) Cooley were my grandparents on my mother's side of the family. George Cooley (1861-1939) earned the title "Father of the Ohio Farm Bureau" in 1919. "Uncle George," as he was fondly called, was President of the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Company in the 1920s and 1930s. The name was changed to Nationwide Insurance in 1955 and the company is now headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. I think of my grandfather as having founded Nationwide!
My genealogy/family history books were written primarily for my family, a legacy I hope future generations will come to appreciate. Ardis Whitman has said "To know where I come from is one of the greatest longings of the human heart."
About the Author
After receiving his SB (1947) and ScD (1951) degrees from MIT in civil engineering, Dr. Aldrich served for six years on the MIT faculty, teaching courses in soil mechanics and foundation engineering. In 1957, he cofounded the consulting engineering firm Haley & Aldrich, Inc. Based originally in Cambridge, the firm specializes in geotechnical engineering and the environmental geosciences. Dr. Aldrich is now chairman emeritus (retired).
Throughout his career, Dr. Aldrich has been active at MIT. He was president of the Alumni Association in 1980-81 and served on the Corporation from 1980 through 1986; for three of those years, he was on the Executive Committee. He is an honorary member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1984.
Harl and Lois Aldrich met at the University of Iowa in 1944 while he was in the Navy V-5 flight training program and she was finishing her master's in anthropology. They married in 1946 and were among the first residents of the original Westgate. They live in Concord, MA, and have five children and eight grandchildren.
What Matters is a guest opinion column written by a different MIT alumnus or alumna. The views expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Alumni Association or MIT. Interested in writing a column? Email whatmatters@mit.edu.
