Progress on Book II
The First Book traced the descendents of the three Osgood emigrants, who came to America in the 1630’s. A brief summary of the life of each has been told earlier. The “Second Book” will “bring forward” genealogical information about the Osgood family as well as to correct any known errors in the original publication.
In 1937 and again in 1942 Frank Story Osgood of Newburyport, Mass., who was a member of the publication committee for the First Book, compiled a collection of corrections and new pieces of information, which were meant to augment the First Book. In his words, “a descendent of Aaron Osgood furnished the Family Line in such form, that Ira Osgood, the first compiler, has the several Aarons badly mixed up. This was not discovered until 1933. After searching in every place where these Osgoods lived, and finding only a few bibles and uncertain records (descendents quite scattered), I offer the following pages.”
The Aarons who were confused were #63, his son #195, and his grandson #438 in the John Line. The corrections involving this Family were informally produced and were sent to only a few genealogical libraries in New England. These include The New Hampshire Historical Society, The New England Historical Society, and The Essex Institute.
Any descendent of this line needs to consult these corrections in order to have an accurate depiction of the Lineage. To be forewarned, the corrections are quite voluminous. Integrating them into the numbering system of the First Book was indeed a challenge, but this work has been completed for inclusion in the Second Book. Also, through correspondence with descendents of this Line, I have been able to expand the various families much further than Frank Story Osgood was able to take them, this due to the passage of time.
As a strategic objective, the Second Book will “bring forward” from the First Book the last head of household in each family who has a son surviving to either the seventh, eighth or ninth generations. Depending on the Line, these are the last generations shown in the First Book. The factors determining whether a line is brought forward are based on the new genealogy information being presented, that was not a part of the First Book.
For all three Lines (John, Christopher, and William) there were a total of 339 heads of household in the First Book who fit this definition. These individuals were the focus of the work for the Second Book.
As of the year 2006, over 8,000 Osgoods with new genealogical information have been collected and assembled in lineage format back to the First Book. All of the 339 heads of household have been brought forward with updated lineage information.
JOHN LINE
All lines with the JOHN lineage have been accounted for.
CHRISTOPHER LINE
All lines with the CHRISTOPHER lineage have been accounted for.
WILLIAM LINE
All lines with the WILLIAM lineage have been accounted for.
By bringing each of the above lines forward, a major sense of completion has been achieved for the Second Book. How far I take the Book beyond this point is at this time an open question. Genealogy is a never ending process because life, death and marriage continues on with someone. In spite of this, at some point, the decision will have to be made to close the curtain on the Second Book. I firmly believe that I will know when that time has come, and it will not come before I feel a personal sense of completeness with the work.
A large part of that completeness involves obtaining family lineage information for the names of a large group of untraced Osgoods. These Osgoods are in addition to the foregoing Lines, that have not been brought forward from the First Book.
There follows a list of Osgoods, arranged alphabetically by state, for which exists varying amounts of information. For none of these names do I have a family lineage that can be traced back to the First Book.
I encourage Osgood descendents to study this list to see if you can identify a relative,which would then provide information, that would allow the Osgood to be traced with a lineage back to the First Book.
As names are authentically traced in this fashion, they will be removed from the list, which I hope over time will be reduced dramatically in number.
As was the case with the First Book, my intent with this work is to preserve the historical significance of the Osgood family. My fondest hope is that someone will continue this work within the next hundred years.
One of the reasons why I have been able to collect almost 8,000 names with updated information is because many Osgoods have been so generous in responding to my request for information. However, there are also many Osgoods who have not responded.
The success of this Book will depend on obtaining a significant response from our population of Osgood descendents. There are approximately 3,400 Osgood households in this Country. The lineage information, that I have recorded to date, affects the great majority of these households. However, there is additional information that can be gained from many of them, particularly in the tenth generation and past.
So, I make this request of those who have not already done so.
In addition to the names of your children please send to me the names of your father and grandfather and as many of their direct line predecessors for whom you have knowledge.
I need the following specific information:
- Dates of birth and death;
- Spousal names with dates of birth and death;
- Childrens names with dates of birth and death;
- Places of residence;
- Occupations;
- Annecdotal information.
Please do not let a lack of response compromise the completeness of this Book. Your family information will become increasingly valuable to the generations that follow you. The service that you render is for them. Thank you for your help.