{"id":48983,"date":"2019-03-28T11:28:33","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T15:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=48983"},"modified":"2019-04-04T13:47:31","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T17:47:31","slug":"genealogy-serendipity-part-ii-ancestors-diaries-returned-to-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-serendipity-part-ii-ancestors-diaries-returned-to-family.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy Serendipity, Part II: Ancestor\u2019s Diaries Returned to Family"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Seven years ago I wrote about the kindness of a genealogist from across the country that sent me the long-lost Bible and four journals of my 1st cousin, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/tree\/person\/details\/LZKD-PX2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ransom Ferdinand Smith (1864-1940)<\/a>, who lived in Woodstock, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n<p>To learn the details of this story, about the kindness of a stranger who returned these items to me through a serendipitous chain of events, read my 2012 article: <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/genealogy-serendipity-ancestors-bible-journals-returned-to-family.html\">Genealogy Serendipity: Ancestor\u2019s Bible &amp; Journals Returned to Family<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48989\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48989\" style=\"width: 578px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0927-2012-ransom-smith-bible-journals.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48989\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0927-2012-ransom-smith-bible-journals.png\" alt=\"Photo: Ransom Smith\u2019s Bible and journals\" width=\"578\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0927-2012-ransom-smith-bible-journals.png 578w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0927-2012-ransom-smith-bible-journals-300x177.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48989\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Ransom Smith\u2019s Bible and journals. Source: Thomas Jay Kemp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Well, it\u2019s happened again.<\/p>\n<p>Today I received two of Ransom Smith\u2019s diaries and a small book that he received as a Christmas gift in 1879.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48995\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48995\" style=\"width: 613px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-ransom-smith-diaries-book.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48995\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-ransom-smith-diaries-book.png\" alt=\"Photo: two of Ransom Smith\u2019s diaries and a book he received as a Christmas present\" width=\"613\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-ransom-smith-diaries-book.png 613w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-ransom-smith-diaries-book-300x262.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 613px) 100vw, 613px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48995\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: two of Ransom Smith\u2019s diaries and a book he received as a Christmas present. Credit: Thomas Jay Kemp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Wow. Very kind of her to send these to us.<\/p>\n<p>And look at these details, from his October 1927 diary.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48999\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48999\" style=\"width: 483px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-ransom-smith-diary.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48999\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-ransom-smith-diary.png\" alt=\"Photo: Ransom Smith\u2019s diary, showing entries from October 1927\" width=\"483\" height=\"491\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-ransom-smith-diary.png 483w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-ransom-smith-diary-295x300.png 295w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 483px) 100vw, 483px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-48999\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Ransom Smith\u2019s diary, showing entries from October 1927. Source: Thomas Jay Kemp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>9 October 1927: \u201cWe sat up with Herbert at night.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>10 October 1927: \u201cHerbert seems about the same very sick.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>11 October 1927: \u201cHerbert has not much change.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And then the news.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>12 October 1927: \u201cHerbert past away 20 min after twelve to night.\u201d [i.e., on 13 October 1927]<\/li>\n<li>13 October 1927: \u201cRainy. We are brave as possible.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>14 October 1927: \u201cMade plans for funeral.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>15 October 1927: \u201cHerbert was laid at rest, flowers were lovely. We took him to Woodstock.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Herbert was their son, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/tree\/person\/details\/LZ12-SXG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alfred Herbert Smith (1897-1927)<\/a>. So, they called him Herbert.<\/p>\n<p>He was buried in Woodstock Cemetery in Woodstock, New Hampshire.<\/p>\n<p>But for the kindness of another, we would not have these diaries.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a great day for genealogy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thomas Jay Kemp writes about the kindness of a stranger who found and returned his cousin Ransom Ferdinand Smith\u2019s diaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12557],"tags":[12,18861],"class_list":["post-48983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-stories","tag-genealogy","tag-letters-and-diaries-or-journals"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/photo-0328-2019-featured-graphic-ransom-smith-diary.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}