{"id":12351,"date":"2016-02-04T10:51:52","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T15:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=12351"},"modified":"2017-02-20T13:57:37","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T18:57:37","slug":"her-father-was-the-rustic-bard-newspapers-tell-the-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/her-father-was-the-rustic-bard-newspapers-tell-the-story.html","title":{"rendered":"Her Father Was the \u2018Rustic Bard\u2019? Newspapers Tell the Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was looking at the marriage announcement for my cousins Isaac and Annis (Dinsmoor) Cochran, and was surprised to see the name of her father given as the \u201cRustic Bard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"wedding<\/a>
New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire), 23 March 1827, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The \u201cRustic Bard\u201d \u2013 I wonder who that was?<\/p>\n

So \u2013 I dug deeper into GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> and did a search for \u201cRustic Bard,\u201d and found this poem.<\/p>\n

\"poem<\/a>
New Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette (Concord, New Hampshire), 4 February 1822, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This could be a clue.
\nThe poem speaks of \u201cThe Bard of Windham hill\u201d and refers to him as \u201cThe rustic Bard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another poem dated 8 November 1828 was also published in the New Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"poem<\/a>
New Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette (Concord, New Hampshire), 24 November 1828, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This poem was untitled and presented as a letter to the editor.
\nIt looks like the poet\u2019s initials were \u201cR. D,\u201d and he was identified as the \u201cRustic Bard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking further through the GenealogyBank search results I found this lengthy obituary for the poet R. D. (Robert Dinsmoor).<\/p>\n

\"obituary<\/a>
New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire), 14 April 1836, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Genealogists love to find an obituary like this. It gives a lot of details of his life and talks about his ancestry right back into Scotland.<\/p>\n

The obituary says that as a young man, Robert showed promise as a mathematician \u2013 but poetry soon became his chief interest.<\/p>\n

\"excerpt<\/a>
New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire), 14 April 1836, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Learning that Robert published a book of his poems in 1828, I went to the Internet Archive<\/a> \u2013 the major online repository of digital books \u2013 and quickly found \u201cPoems of Robert Dinsmoor, the Rustic Bard<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Source: Internet Archive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

See: https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/poemsofrobertdin00dins<\/a><\/p>\n

I love it. Researching in GenealogyBank for my cousin\u2019s marriage record, I was able to find this interesting story about Annis Dinsmoor\u2019s father Robert Dinsmoor, the \u201cRustic Bard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get the entire story.
\nLook at the clues in newspaper articles and go wherever they take you to get the complete picture of your ancestors\u2019 lives.<\/p>\n

Are You Attending the RootsTech Genealogy Conference?<\/strong><\/p>\n

GenealogyBank is helping to sponsor the RootsTech conference. If you\u2019re attending, come visit us at booth #523<\/strong> to discuss genealogy in general, or any specific questions you have about your own family history research.<\/p>\n

For more information about RootsTech, visit the website at: http:\/\/www.rootstech.org\/?lang=eng<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Newspaper Research Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n