And with Mayflower genealogy specifically? More than I would ever have guessed. To start with, did you know that Jell-O has its own museum?
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It does, in LeRoy, Genesee Co, New York, which we took a special detour on our Erie Canal journey to see. LeRoy is the birthplace of Jell-O - AND of the stringless green bean. In its farming heyday (1800s) hundreds of seasonal workers from the surrounding area came to LeRoy (originally Bellona and previously part of Caledonia in Livingston Co, and sometimes referred to as the Ganson Settlement) every year to do the laborious work of shelling beans and assorted other tasks. They were male & female, young & old, but apparently from a relatively limited area, central NY. If you have a Mayflower relative you cannot find, consider looking for him or her in LeRoy / Le Roy, which was on a major migration path out of New England and to NY, MI and elsewhere in the Upper Midwest.
Look for them at the LeRoy Historical Society, 23 East Main St., in the old house in front of the Jell-O Museum (which is around the back). The two work together and visitors to the Jell-O Museum are actually supporting the work of the Historical Society, including the LeRoy House, originally the tiny home of land agent Jacob LeRoy but later expanded to be large enough to hold the first college for women in the U.S., Ingham University. It ran from the 1830s to the 1890s and expanded across Main St. and part of the property is now the Woodward Memorial Library. If you have a female ancestor who was noted at the time for being well-educated, particularly in the arts, look for her in LeRoy, NY.
Tucked away in a corner of LeRoy House (below) was a framed collection of "head shots" labeled something like "Class of 1880." Another item was a bookcase with shelves of plain gray-bound books labeled "lineage books." Who knows, maybe it was someone's records of livestock pedigrees, but the guide thought they had been donated by a group, maybe the DAR, making them human pedigrees. The Society does have a collection of records and will do genealogical research for you, so do contact them or better yet support them with a membership, just $25.00.
Look for them at the LeRoy Historical Society, 23 East Main St., in the old house in front of the Jell-O Museum (which is around the back). The two work together and visitors to the Jell-O Museum are actually supporting the work of the Historical Society, including the LeRoy House, originally the tiny home of land agent Jacob LeRoy but later expanded to be large enough to hold the first college for women in the U.S., Ingham University. It ran from the 1830s to the 1890s and expanded across Main St. and part of the property is now the Woodward Memorial Library. If you have a female ancestor who was noted at the time for being well-educated, particularly in the arts, look for her in LeRoy, NY.
Tucked away in a corner of LeRoy House (below) was a framed collection of "head shots" labeled something like "Class of 1880." Another item was a bookcase with shelves of plain gray-bound books labeled "lineage books." Who knows, maybe it was someone's records of livestock pedigrees, but the guide thought they had been donated by a group, maybe the DAR, making them human pedigrees. The Society does have a collection of records and will do genealogical research for you, so do contact them or better yet support them with a membership, just $25.00.
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