Understanding the local town histories is very important, but the information will have much greater value if it is placed in the context of regional history.
Since the towns involved so far all seem to be clustered in the same general region, now seems like a good time to review the regional history of the upper Connecticut River.
In this post I want to explore the places where I have found Edward. Where are they in relationship to each other? I will also be looking into the history of these locations as they might relate to Edward. Google Maps will help me share this with my readers. Today's technology is just so cool!
Every now and then during a research project I like to take time to review and summarize what I have learned and what I still need to learn.
I find creating timelines and studying maps to be incredibly useful tools at this stage of a project.
Creating a timeline consists of listing the data I have found in chronological order.
Google Books took me to a publication titled "Town papers. Documents Relating to Towns in New Hampshire" compiled by Isaac Weare, 1883 where I found a few interesting documents relating to Edward Sr.
Another juicy bit of data comes from a similar publication titled "State Papers. Documents and Records Relating to the State of New-Hampshire During the Period of the American Revolution, From 1776 to 1783 ..., Compiled by Nathaniel Bouton, 1874"
Exploring census records has provided me with a couple answers and a lot more questions. I have not had a lot of luck verifying the data from the published genealogies with these census records, so now I will investigate other types of records to see what I can turn up for the two men.
Exploring FamilySearch Record Search for the name Edward Mardin between 1750 and 1880 turned up nothing of value. Well, that's not completely correct. I did find vital records for a grandchild which I will put aside for later. I also learned enough about the other Edwards found in the census to rule them out. I am now confident I have the correct census records for the family I am exploring.
