Florence Harlow Barclay (Elected 2014)
Florence Harlow Barclay, FASG, was born 5 June 1889 in Whitman, Massachusetts, and died there on 21 December 1980. She was one of the 20th century’s most prolific genealogists. The main body of her work consists of over fifty articles published in The American Genealogist between 1946 and 1971. Although nearly all her work deals with early families of Plymouth Colony, her clear writing style, use of primary source material, and most importantly, her outstanding analytical skills, make her articles models of genealogical problem-solving. Her articles continue to be cited regularly in the works of more recent genealogists. Mrs. Barclay’s body of work ranks her among the top echelon of American genealogists.
Mrs. Barclay’s election as a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists in 1955 and her appointment as a contributing editor to The American Genealogist in 1951 were in part a recognition of her standing as the leading expert on families of Plymouth Colony. She also served as vice president of the American Society of Genealogists in 1964–65, and as chairman of publications and membership committees and one of the founders of the Harlow Family Association.
Among her principal lectures was a presentation on 29 October 1961 in Concord, New Hampshire, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Genealogists, “Rebecca Lapham, wife of Samuel3 White or John3 Washburn?” One of her principal publications was the update of the Massachusetts chapter (with Rachel E. Barclay) in Genealogical Research: Methods and Sources, revised edition (Washington, D.C.: The American Society of Genealogists, 1980), 1:139–150, originally written by Winifred Lovering Holman.
Earl Gregg Swem (Elected 2013)
Dr. Earl Gregg Swem, FASG(1870–1965) for thirty-seven years devoted his career to the collection and publication of materials on Virginia and Virginians. He was an assistant librarian at the Virginia State Library for twelve years and then became the head of the William and Mary College Library, from which he retired in 1944.
Earl Gregg Swem is most well known as the compiler of the multi-volume Virginia Historical Index, frequently referred to as the “Swem Index.” This monumental index to a number of publications is an invaluable source for locating information about thousands of Virginia families.
Under his tenure, as librarian of the College of William and Mary, the William and Mary Historical Quarterly was re-established in 1921. While librarian, he actively pursued the acquisition of manuscripts and in twenty-four years he increased the library’s book collection from 25,000 to 240,000 and its 20,000 manuscripts to 400,000. Dr. Swem also compiled a number of comprehensive bibliographies and in addition he educated the public with articles and book reviews in the Richmond Times Dispatch. He helped bridge the fields of genealogy and history.
As an assistant librarian at the Virginia State Library, and later as head of the College of William and Mary Library, he was in a position to educate, and advocate for, the study of local history and families, as well as the preservation and collection of records. The William and Mary Library is the repository for the Earl Gregg Swem Genealogy Collection, Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, and to the present day its immense collection is a valuable resource for historians and genealogists.
Josephine Cosette Mayou Stillman Frost (Elected 2012)
Josephine Cosette Mayou Stillman Frost was born April 17, 1864 in Warren, Masschusetts, and died December 31, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. For more than forty years Josephine Cosette Mayou Stillman Frost became one of the most important contributors to New York genealogy during the first four decades of the twentieth century. She acquired a broad knowledge of early New York families, as reflected in her published genealogies which in many cases remain the most reliable accounts of these families. Although she did much of her work before today’s scholarly standards were fully developed, she recognized the importance of using and citing primary sources, and transcribed and abstracted an enormous number of those sources, particularly from Brooklyn and Long Island. New York genealogists today still rely on her transcripts and abstracts as so much of the information in them can be found nowhere else. She was the first woman to be named a Fellow of The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Her list of publications is impressive and includes a number devoted to specific families (including Frost) and a number on cemetery and church records. Her unpublished works are now in the NYG&B Collection at the New York Public Library.
Albert Cook Myers (Elected 2011)
Albert Cook Myers (1874–1960) dedicated himself to the early history of Pennsylvania, especially to the history and genealogies of the Quakers. He was nominated by the Historical Society of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. His monumental work on these families resulted in the publication of many well-known books and numerous articles. He left an important and well-sized legacy when he donated his life work to the Chester County Historical Society. Within the collection are transcriptions of marriages, land records, land maps, diaries, cemeteries, and courthouse records, all of which continue to be extremely useful to genealogists
Rosalie Fellows Bailey (Elected 2010)
Rosalie Fellows Bailey, FASG,was born 7 August 1908 in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, as the second child of Theodorus and Alice Bailey. Most of her life was spent in New York City, where she died 6 June 1991. She was a leading authority on the history and records of the early families of New York City and the lower Hudson River Valley. Her published work is marked by a thorough knowledge of available source material and a careful analysis of the evidence. She delighted in difficult problems, and her ability to analyze was of the highest order. One can find many articles she wrote in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Articles can also be found in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly and the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine.
In 1941, at the young age of thirty-three, Miss Bailey was the first woman elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. She served as that organization’s secretary from 1953–1957. Two weeks before her death, she was elected a Fellow of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. She was, for many years, the registrar of the Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America. Her articles and books demonstrated her knowledge and skills as a genealogist and provided important contributions to the field.
Willard Calvin Heiss (Elected 2009)
Willard Calvin Heiss, FASG(1921–1988) an Indiana Quaker scholar, attended Indiana University and for 25 years was administrator of the Records and Microfilm Division of the City of Indianapolis. He also served as chairman of the Family History Section of the Indiana Historical Society and editor of its publication, Genealogy. He was a pre-eminent authority on Quaker history and genealogy and was a popular lecturer. He wrote genealogical columns for the Indianapolis Times and the Indianapolis News, as well as articles for a number of genealogical periodicals. He is perhaps most well known for the seven volumes of abstracts of all Indiana Quaker monthly meetings established before 1875, that he published over a fifteen year period.
Lowell M. Volkel (Elected 2008)
Born in 1936, Lowell Volkel was a Danville, Illinois High School teacher whose interest in genealogy began at an early age. He moved to Springfield in 1970 to become an archivist at the Illinois State Archives. Few know how much influence he had with his work there. From the time he joined the Archives staff in 1970 until his death, he worked with the Illinois State Genealogical Society, the Illinois State Archives, and various record keepers, to make Illinois records available for research. He set a precedent for other states to follow and influenced their attitudes towards record access.
In addition to his many publications, Lowell was also founder and first president of the Illinois State Genealogical Society, and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1993. He taught genealogy classes and was a frequent genealogy speaker and lectured in the 1970s at the National Archives Institute on Genealogy in Washington, DC. He died in 1992 at the young age of 56, but his efforts for over three decades had an impact that would shape the future of records access nationally.
Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. (Elected 2007)
Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., FASG(1911–2000) a resident of Pennsylvania and a chemical engineer, was nominated by the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. His primary areas of genealogical research were New England, the Mid-Atlantic States, and feudal British genealogy. His publications adhered as closely as possible to original records. He had an acute power of analysis and many of his articles provided lessons in genealogical research for novices. He insisted on documentation and was very emphatic about this in his book reviews. In addition to being a writer and contributing editor for the Pennsylvania Genealogy Magazine and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, he lectured at some of the early national conferences.
He was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (ASG) in 1944, the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania in 1965, and the National Genealogical Society in 1976. He was a founding trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and later served as President from 1970–78. He also served as president of ASG from 1970–73. Lee played an important part in the establishment of several lineage societies such as the Welcome Society, Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings and Queens of Britain (better known as Royal Bastards), and the Flagon and Trencher, a society for descendants of colonial tavern keepers. His varied contributions helped shape modern genealogical studies.
Kenn Stryker-Rodda (Elected 2006)
Dr. Kenn Stryker-Rodda, FASG, FNGS (7 July 1903–29 June 1990), a resident of New Jersey most of his life, was nominated by the American Society of Genealogists, the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. He was a pioneer genealogical educator and lecturer, and authored many books and articles. In 1964 he served as a Charter Trustee for the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Dr. Stryker-Rodda also served as president of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, the American Society of Genealogists, and the National Genealogical Society. He spent more than thirty years as an associate editor, first with the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey and later with the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Between 1960 and 1981, he was elected a fellow of six societies—the American Society of Genealogists, the National Genealogical Society, the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, the Holland Society of New York, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and the New Jersey Historical Society.
Dr. Stryker-Rodda’s area of expertise was early New York and New Jersey. He wrote numerous genealogical articles, and compiled a number of family genealogies and volumes of source records, either as sole author or with a colleague. His contributions to the field were many and varied.
Mary Campbell (Lovering) Holman (Elected 2005)
During the early twentieth century, Mary Lovering Holman, FASG(1868–1947) published, as sole author, or coauthor, a series of compiled genealogies on New England Families. These included The Scott Genealogy; The Ancestors and Descendants of Robert Clements of Leicestershire and Warwickshire, England; Ancestors and Descendants of John Coney of Boston, England and Boston, Massachusetts; Ancestors and Descendants of Philip Bullen of Jersey, England, and Charlestown, Massachusetts; and Descendants of William Sherman of Marshfield, Massachusetts. Each was a model of sound genealogical judgment and painstaking research in original records.
Mrs. Holman had a long career as a professional genealogist, and the quality of her work placed her at the forefront of her peers. Her genealogical manuscripts from her many years of work as a professional genealogist, consisting of about 1,200 families, are at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston. In 1941 she was the 11th person to be inducted as a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.
Herbert Furman Seversmith (Elected 2004)
Herbert Furman Seversmith, Ph.D., FASG, FNGS(1904–1967)was originally named Herbert Francis Smith, but he had his name legally changed in 1936 when he assumed a surname based on his Dutch immigrant ancestor Claes Severtszen Smith. He joined the National Genealogical Society in 1929 and served in a number of capacities including president (1952–1953). In 1942 he was elected as the thirty-first Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. Sixteen years later, in 1958, he was elected a Fellow of the National Genealogical Society.
Dr. Seversmith’s area of expertise was Colonial Long Island. His contributions to the field included the Ancestry of Roger Ludlow; Colonial Families of Long Island New York, New York, and Connecticut, Being the Ancestry and Kindred of Herbert Furman Seversmith; a sub-chapter on Long Island resources in Genealogical Methods and Sources; and Long Island Genealogical Source Material: A Bibliography, written with Kenn Stryker-Rodda. Important periodical articles included “George Norton of Salem, Massachusetts, and His Supposed Connection with the Norton Family of Sharpenhoe, Bedfordshire” The American Genealogist 15 (April 1939): 193–207; “The Fabulous Pearsals,” The American Genealogist 18 (October 1941, January 1942): 78–90, 153–171; and “The Parentage of Theunis Gijsbertszen Bogaert” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 55 (June 1967): 89–91.
Milton Rubincam (Elected 2003)
Milton Rubincam, FASG, FNGS(1909–1997) was one of the most prominent and influential genealogists of the 20th Century. He was actively engaged in the field of genealogy for 67 years, publishing many periodical articles, lecturing at countless conferences and seminars and serving as an officer in several major genealogical organizations. He was also a lecturer for the Samford University Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research and the Smithsonian Institute, and lecturer and director for the National Institute on Genealogical Research for the National Archives.
Mr. Rubincam edited more than 171 articles and monographs, including Genealogical Research Methods and Sources, Vol. 1, rev. ed., Pitfalls in Genealogical Research, and authored In Search of Pennsylvania Germans: Sources for Family History and Genealogical Research in Pennsylvania and Delaware, as well as countless periodical articles and book chapters. He was editor of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly from 1945–1948 and 1953–1954, as well as editor of The Pennsylvanian, book review editor for the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 1957–1962, and contributing editor of The American Genealogist. Offices that Mr. Rubincam held include president, vice president and secretary-treasurer of the American Society of Genealogists; president and chairman of the Board for Certification of Genealogists; president of the National Genealogical Society; president of the Pennsylvania Historical Junto; and honorary vice-president of the Ontario Genealogical Society. He also founded the Pennsylvania Historical Junto and the Ontario Genealogical Society.
