What we found in New York City

WOW - last weekend was VERY exciting, for more reasons than Robbie and I in NYC (read here for non-genealogy related story). We did go to New York, with the intent of visiting the New York Public Library, which has an extensive genealogy collection. As always, it was a great day! Here are some of our findings....

After a short walk through downtown NYC, we headed to St Pauls Chapel by Ground Zero, where I had located a HYDE grave. I haven't worked on making the connection to our family, but wanted to have a photo just in case I was able to.

Her name was Margaret Hyde. She died on July 30, 1814 at 32 years old. There is some kind of inscription at the bottom of the grave marker, but we couldn't read it.

Then we were off to the library. It was incredible, and I will be going back often. This is the Genealogy Reading Room....

Yes, they have a reading room just for geneaology! (there is a whole separate room for microfilm that we didn't go into).There are research computers, and tables, and of you find a book that you want to use, you fill out a little slip that lists your information, the book you want, and where you are sitting, and about 3 minutes later the book is brought to you. It was amazing! What was truely amazing was that I got to hold in my hand an original copy of Hyde Genealogy; or, The descendents, in the female as well as the male lines, from William Hyde of Norwich by Reuben H. Walworth (the H stands for Hyde). This book is the Holy Grail for our branch of the Hyde family in the United States. It starts with William Hyde, who was the ancestor that came to the colonies from England in 1633,and runs through the generations to Samuel Wilson Hyde, who was alive in 1857 (the book was published in 1864). The book was too old and brittle for me to copy, so we took pictures of the pages that we wanted, and the pictures came out nice and clear.

Using this book I was able to comfirm that Hudson Benedict Hyde is in our family tree - he is my great-great-great grandfather. I was also able to confirm that my great-great-grandmother's name was Irene Carpenter. She was married to Samuel Wilson Hyde, and thier son was Earl Hyde (my great grandfather). He married Nellie Forsythe, they had a son Earl Forsythe Hyde (grandaddy), who married Mary Frances Moorhead, who had a son Bruce Gilbert, who married Dorothy Patricia Crawford, who had a daughter named Dottie Jo! The only problem was that since the book only listed information through 1857, and Earl was born in 1863, I could not make the connection to him. What I need to do is see if I can get a copy of Earl's birth certificate, and then the line is complete.



We looked at another book, titled Hyde and Fuller Familes in England and the United States by Florence Fuller Hyde that was published in 1964. There wasn't anything about our family in there, but we did find out that the Hyde's are tied into the Royal Family of England. I need to do a little research on this, but the copy of the tree that was in the book shows a Laurence Hyde that was buried in 1590 who had some very important sons. His son Laurence was the attorney general to Queen Anne (married to King Janes II). He was a knight, as were 3 of his sons. Another son of Laurence I was Henry, whose sons and grandsons are listed as Earl of Clarendon, the Lord Chancelor of England, and one was Lord Cornbury, who I know I've heard of. One of Henry's sons, Henry II, was the 2nd Earl of Clarendon. His brother Laurence was the Earl of Rochester. His sister Anne married the Duke of York, making her the Duchess of York (same title currently held by Sarah Ferguson, former wife of Prince Andrew). The Duke became King James II, and their children were Queen Mary and Queen Anne. I am going to work to see if I can find our connection to this branch of the family. By the time that the original Laurence was born, we were already here in the US, but I know there is a connection somewhere. I always knew I was a princess!

So, that is what we found - a few answers and more mysteries to solve. I'm beginning to realize that this whole endeavor is going to be that same - 1 answer and 2 more questions. But I sure am having fun!