Wednesday, August 3, 2016

TIME FOR A NEW FOCUS - What's next?

          I needed a few days to reflect on what I have recently completed - the life of John Carter published for the world to view.  I spent a good part of year compiling it a couple of years ago.  It has been posted at FamilySearch but hasn't really had much exposure.  At one point I had hoped it would be published in an other form but that never panned out so this was my chance.  It was rewarding that this story has generated over 3000 page views.  So now what will we do?

          I think I will turn to the life of Hannah Knight Libby Carter his wife.  The origin of my writing of John's life was the fact that no one had ever really tried to do so.  There was information on Hannah and most people felt that was sufficient - after all she was the one who joined the Church and that made her more important in the eyes of many.  John was depreciated in importance because of his refusal to join her faith and because of that many had little to say about him.

          It is interesting that there are 10 "stories" in the Memories for Hannah in FamilySearch - yet in reading all of them they really are just one story that is rehashed almost word for word in the various stories.  In fact much of the story that has been written on her is really about the other family members with a little Hannah mixed in.  That isn't surprising as the Carters were, for the most part, poor journalists and in general women are not found in many records in the 1700's and 1800's.  So any study of her life and times will be problematic.

          This will be a slow process as I will need to research her life step by step to see what I can do to enrich the narrative.  In fact this might be a good to to issue a plea for any hidden away information about Hannah that might be sitting in your records.  If you have anything of this nature please let me know - I would be happy to credit you in the story for any tidbits of information that we can add to the story of Hannah.


1 comment:

  1. Robert, if I find anything that might be of interest I will let you know ASAP ... I'm going through and sorting still...

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