Henry Chamberlin, shoemaker, should be PGM [closed]

Question

Henry Chamberlin, shoemaker, of Hingham, County Norfolk and Hingham, Massachusetts, is identified by Robert Charles Anderson (GMD p. 49) as a 1638 immigrant to Hingham, Massachusetts. I have created profiles for him and his wife, who accompanied him to Hingham (see his profile for source), and they both should be PGM. He should also be connected to Christian Chamberlin, who is identified in her profile as his mother, and is PPP by the PGM project.

Comments

He and wife Grace definitely fall within the scope of the Puritan Great Migration project (and also its Beyond New England subproject, which I think is inactive at the moment). I will leave it to the project leadership to decide whether/how they want to manage these profiles.

Answer 1

Stu, I posted a Comment on Chamberlin's profile as to becoming a PGM profile based on  Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Directory. Immigrants to New England, 1620-1640. Boston, MA: NEHGS, 2015. Page 59.

However, this is not the Chamberlin who is PGM and Beyond. It's the Blacksmith who returned to England by 1649. Please edit the profile so that the reader knows that the shoemaker stayed put.

I am on the PGM and Beyond team and am happy to add the sticker when we verify that a PGM has, indeed, moved 'beyond'. Thank you!

Comments

That's not right. It was the shoemaker who returned to England and the blacksmith who stayed put. Anderson has them reversed. (Anderson, like every genealogist who ever lived, does make mistakes.)

According to the source cited on the profile (and that Anderson references in GMD), "By 28 July 1649, Henry Chamberlin, shoemaker, had returned to England leaving no known surviving issue in the New World; Henry Chamberlin, blacksmith, remained and left numerous descendants." Donald Conrad Chamberlin Sr., "'The Two Henry Chamberlins of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1638-1649," in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, volume 139 (1985), at page 126. (Emphasis in original) At page 134, the author cites a deposition made by “Grace Chamberlin the wife of Henry Chamberlin shoemaker” stating that he had returned to England and also a deed made in 1675 in which the co-executors of the will of Henry Chamberlin sold property that Henry Chamberlin, blacksmith, had acquired over the years in Hingham.

Edited to add: I hadn't noticed the Anderson had them reversed; I'm going to add that to the "Disambiguation" section at the top of the Biography.

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It looks like somone has added your Chamberline to PGM as it has the sticker.

I just sent an email to Jillaine Smith to weight in on the situation regarding which Chamberlain returned to England. We could believe it was the shoemaker based on your source; however, to have a contradiction in Anderson's Directory is also problematical. I believe the PGM team should weigh in on this.

Henry Chamberlain [sic] is also mentioned in the Great Migration Newsletter (1998), but only insofar as he became a member of the church in Hingham on 9 January 1726/7. Unknown as to which Henry.

Why am I becoming so cautious? I have a 4x GGM who was written up in the NEHGS Quarterly 66 years ago using her birth record as being married to another man!  I have spent several years tracking down sourcing, evidence, etc. and put together a 'mini proof'. I had an email conversation with the man who does the online AmericanAncestry and gave him all of the information. He put a 'codicil' on the article as to the inaccuracy and recommended that I submit an article to the NEHGS Quarterly. I am in the process of working on that proof to submit. Meanwhile, a lot of damage has been done in that I have many people saying I am related to them due to this inaccurate marriage and they get really really angry with me when I tell them that it is the wrong Green that was listed and without evidence! Some of these folks are past presidents of local genealogical societies. Let's be sure we have the correct Chamberlain.

So, Anderson could be incorrect in one instance and correct in another. He works with historians at the NEHGS and perhaps an email to the NEHGS is in order so that they can get feedback from him personally.

Meanwhile, let's see what the PGM team has to say just to be on the safest side. If the Directory IS in error, I will send an email to them myself.

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I've taken a look; the definitive work appears not to be Anderson but as Stu mentioned, the NEHGR article about the two men. I've sent Carol a pdf copy. It's a very well done article.

Conclusion:

The shoemaker returned to England; the blacksmith remained in Massachusetts.

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It's not only my source, but also Anderson's. He cites it in the GMD. Look at that article; it provides conclusive evidence that the shoemaker returned to England and the blacksmith stayed in Massachusetts. Anderson simply switched them when he compiled the GMD.

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Hi Jillaine,

I just responded to your email. Thank you for the follow through. It looks like Stu already has the article from the NEHGR. I have this and the PGM series.

If it isn't already there, I'll add the PGM and Beyond to the Shoemaker, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. My eyes are crossing from cleaning up profiles for several hours straight and am taking a long break so I don't start making mistakes.

Thanks again, Jillaine!

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FYI: Cheryl Skordahl identified the switch in the GM Directory sometime last year, and notified the project at NEGHS.  They acknowledged the mistake and said it would be corrected in future editions.

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Hi M, Thanks for the feedback! I've noted it in my hardcopy of the PGM Directory.