Guildhall

Imagine finding a physical description of your 6th great-grandfather living in London back in 1725. Fascinating.  Samuel Wethered: “He is a thin Man, of a smooth Face, pale Complexion, dark Eye-brows, about five Foot eight Inches high, and appears to be 23-24 Years old, speaks French, and generally wore a light Wig and light colour’d

English Entanglements

With 512 7th Gr-grandparents, we’re bound to find something upsetting about our forebears when we dig deep. For me, it’s the Wethereds that are the most troubling. Before coming to Boston, the Wethereds lived in London, by the very center of its civilian power: Guildhall. The affiliated church, St. Lawrence Jewry, designed by Christopher Wren, is

Following Back

Long gravel roads wind through the hills around River Philip, Nova Scotia. My ancestors had plots of land up here that are easy to find on old maps, but hard to reach in reality. Rocks and black flies kept me from driving or walking to my destinations — turning me back around. While my great-grandparents

Departure

It was from here in Cobh, on the southern coast of Ireland, that the last 123 passengers of the Titanic walked these planks on April 12, 1912, setting off on their fateful trip across the Atlantic. Bound for New York, most never arrived. But you know that story. Now decayed and known as “Heartbreak Pier,”

Long Ago

On June 17, 1775, the Three Cranes Tavern of Charlestown, Massachusetts, burned to the ground during the Battle of Bunker Hill. Gone for centuries, it was unearthed in the 1980s in preparation for Boston’s “Big Dig”— the most expensive highway project in American history. This archeological dig found a wealth of pottery, glass, coins, smoking pipes,

Roots

The story of my family is one of immigration, as it is for all white Americans. In my current drawing project, I draw at the places of my ancestors and am quite surprised to see how fruitful my research can be, and how lucky I’ve been to find that so many of my ancestors lived

Long Wharf

Boston’s Long Wharf used to be longer and its history goes way back. It was built in the 1710s and, looking at old maps, one can see that it extended for a half mile — from where I stood to the Custom House Tower (the pointed building a few blocks away) on State Street. Over

Beach Glass

Peter Etters, my 6x great-grandfather, was raised a Mennonite, knew Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, and lived here in Quincy, Massachusetts—until the trouble started. Like the other subjects of this onsite drawing series, Peter was an immigrant to America. He came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1735 from Bern, Switzerland, with his father, Johannes, and some

Afraid to Look

In the heart of downtown Boston, on State Street, close to the iconic Old State House, there’s a plaque on the wall of an office building marking the former location of the celebrated Bunch of Grapes Tavern. That tavern, which was in operation for most of the 18th century, was full of history, including my

A Shock from Fort Cumberland

The iconic facade of King’s Chapel in Boston is hidden now under construction tarps. All you can see is a rainbow flag and a Black Lives Matter banner. The view is better from the Old Burial Ground next door—the oldest cemetery in Boston. It was here that I came, soon after I found the upsetting