Author: Ian Ridgway

John Lewis Gaddis is a professor of history at Yale University, the recipient of multiple writing awards and a distinguished author. Motivated to display the importance of historical consciousness, Gaddis wrote the book The Landscape of History. In this book, Gaddis argues against multiple fields of social sciences while providing insight to historians about stronger research and analysis methods. This book is a combination of writings and lectures performed by Gaddis. By using relevant modern examples, Gaddis is able to argue against forms of social science while promoting different forms of historical thinking.

One of Gaddis’ main points in this book is focused on the importance of causation. Gaddis argues that it is important when writing or thinking about history to consider the context that led to an event. When doing so, an important distinction to make is “the distinction between the immediate, the intermediate, and the distant”. ¹ Thereby, this distinction groups events contextually and explains the events’ relevance. For example, the first group, immediate, is simply whatever occurred at the time of the event. These distinctions are important because historians must be careful when providing context. Gaddis contextualizes this by explaining the historical context of the Pearl Harbor attack. “It would make no sense, for example, to begin an account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with the launching of the planes from their carriers; you’d want to know how the carriers came to be within range of Hawaii”.² When providing context, it is important to not use one of the three groups distinguished above. An example of too much immediate context is exemplified with the Pearl Harbor attack. Providing too much intermediate and distant context is also a mistake. When searching for causation of an event, Gaddis describes a “principal of diminishing relevance”.³ He describes this principal as “is it that the greater the time that separates a cause from a consequence, the less relevant we presume that cause to be”.⁴ In theory, it is possible to tie the true causation of every event back to the Big Bang. However, this principal states that the farther back in time one goes to look for causation the less relevant it is. This principal is helpful when looking for the causation of an event, which Gaddis thinks is extremely important.

Based on causation, Gaddis presents another idea in The Landscape of History which is “the point of no return.” Gaddis describes the point of no return as, “the moment at which an equilibrium that once existed ceased to do so as a result of whatever it is we’re trying to explain”.⁵ In other words, the point of no return represents a change in events that disrupts the peace that was once had. This process, Gaddis explains, is much like the paleontological principal “punctuated equilibrium” “rather, long periods of stability are “punctuated” by abrupt and destabilizing changes”.⁶ The idea of no return is one that relies a lot on context. For one event different people could argue that there are multiple points of no return. For these scenarios, Gaddis advises to return to the principal of diminishing relevance, “that gives us license to emphasize some of these over others”.⁹ Basically, the principal of diminishing relevance states that possible causation events that occur father away, or more distant, are not as relevant as events that are closer to the actual event.

Footnotes:

¹ John Lewis Gaddis, The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 95.

² Gaddis, 95.

³ Gaddis, 96.

⁴ Gaddis, 96.

⁵ Gaddis, 99.

⁶ Gaddis, 96.

⁷ Gaddis, 99.

Link to the timeline of commencement speeches: Timeline

Information about the timeline:

The goal of this timeline is to explore the changes of commencement orations throughout the history of Dickinson College. With information the Dickinson College Archives website, I was able to find dates from almost all of the commencement’s at Dickinson College. The website also listed as to whether or not student orations were given at the ceremonies or not. After looking at all of the entries from 1787 into the 1800’s a pattern grew.  Out of the first seven entries in the archives, about commencement ceremonies, only one showed a commencement ceremony that did not have every student give an oration. However, from 1850 until 1919 there was only one ceremony in which every student  gave a speech. The trend showed that student orations happened at all commencements, just not every student gave one. There were five dates that stood out as particular examples of what commencement speeches looked like at Dickinson College.

Wednesday, September 26, 1787

This was the first commencement at Dickinson College. Student orations were a large part of this graduation process as eight of the nine graduates performed orations.

Thursday, July 8, 1852

The Commencement of 1852 shows an example as to what these ceremonies looked like. Of the 21 graduates, 10 students gave orations. The topic of said speeches covered a wide range of  topics but mostly focused on examining social issues of the time  period such as the economic class divide and political justice.

Thursday, June 25, 1863

The Commencement of 1863 was the first ceremony, in the Dickinson College Archives, that does not have record of a student oration. There was a heighten concern about the Confederate involvement in the area so the ceremony was shortened.

Friday, Jun. 20, 1919

Celebrating the end of World War One, this commencement ceremony was coined the “Victory Commencement”. This was also the first time since the Civil War that a graduating student did not give a speech at the ceremony. The tradition of student orations ended here as from this point onward the outside people have the speeches at Dickinson College Commencements.

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The most recent graduation showed that student orations did not make a comeback. The speaker was Governor Thomas Wolf.

Works Cited:

Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections. Timeline. Dickinson College. http://archives.dickinson.edu/college_history/browse_timeline

Overview:

Over the years Dickinson College Commencement Ceremonies have been celebrated with the presence of student speeches. This practice is one that was heavily practiced during the 18th and 19th century. In fact, all students at one point were required to give a speech at commencement. By examining the Dickinson Class of 1852 it became clear that these speeches focused on topics of social injustices. They provide information about what the students were learning and issues to of what they were concerned with.

Student orations from the class of 1852 are examined in more detail here.

There is a timeline of commencement ceremonies at Dickinson here.

If you are interested, there are more historical thinking ideas found here.

About me:

The purpose of this post is to examine the commencement process throughout the history of Dickinson College. The target audience is anyone who is interested in learning about Dickinson’s history or commencement ceremony’s of the past. I am currently a sophomore at Dickinson College, with a history minor.

 

Preface

This journal entry is based around the life of Charles Albright. Below are eight sources that provide more context into the world that Albright lived in. The topics that are brought up in this bibliography range from life at Dickinson College to The Battle of Chancellorsville with many stops in-between. The main reasoning behind the picking of these particular books and articles stemmed from the desire to learn more about Albrights life. Charles Albright, Dickinson Class of 1852, lived a very full and prosperous life. He served in the Union Army and directly afterwards spent time in the United States Congress. Albright is, by far, the most well renowned member of the Class of 1852 which is why I decided to focus my attention on him.

Cresswell, Stephen. “Enforcing the Enforcement Acts: The Department of Justice in Northern Mississippi, 1870-1890.” The Journal of Southern History 53.3 (1987): 421-40. Web. [Jstor]

This book by Stephen Cresswell describes the Enforcement Acts that were put into place during the late 19^th century. As Cresswell writes, this acts served the purpose of enforcing voting rights for minorities, especially black Americans. During this time period, organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were doing almost all they could do to restrict and stop voting rights for the people who they saw as inferior, their former slaves and subjects, African Americans. The third of these Enforcement Acts was passed through Congress in 1871. At this time Charles Albright was serving in Congress so he would have voted on this act. Based on his party affiliation, as well as previous political issues, it is clear that Albright would vote for the passing of this act. Dickinson graduate Albright helped the United States Congress move towards ending discrimination in the Antebellum South.

Fehrenbacher, Don E. “The Making Of A Myth: Lincoln And The Vice-Presidential Nomination In 1864.” Civil War History 41.(1995): 273-290. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 10 Oct. 2016. [Jumpstart].

Charles Albright served as a delegate for the Republican National Convention, and this book by Don Fehrenbacher describes the process that was nominating Abraham Lincoln as president. Although the time periods are slightly off, Albright helped Lincoln get elected the first time and time book focuses on his reelection, this book still provides amazing insight into the process of nominating a presidential and in particular a vice-presidential candidate at this time. As Fehrenbacher states, all of the “delegates arrived fully expecting to re-nominate Abraham Lincoln without any trouble, but the vice presidency was a different matter” (Fehrenbacher 274). This paper then goes on to fully describe the process that the committee took leading up to nominating Andrew Johnson for Vice President.

Friedman, Milton. “The Crime Of 1873.” Journal Of Political Economy 98.6 (1990): 1157. Business Source Complete. Web. 11 Oct. 2016. [Jstor].

Another act that was passed during this time period was the Coinage Act of 1873. This acted transformed the United States away from bimetallism towards a completely gold standard. This means that the worth of one U.S. dollar was solely measured in its value of gold at any said time. This act however, was not greeted as favorably by some people in America. As Milton Friedman points out, “this paper indicates that it was the opposite – a mistake that had highly adverse consequences” (Friedman 1159). This act was so negatively favored that it was coined as “The Crime of 1873”. Throughout this paper Friedman goes on to describe the background leading up to this act as well as any negative consequences he could find including economic and social turmoil. Albright was also in congress during this period. It would be very interesting to find out what his stance on this debate was and whether or not he advocated for this “crime”  or tried to stop it from happening.

Hitchcock, Frederick L. War From The Inside : The Story Of The 132Nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry In The War For The Suppression Of The Rebellion, 1862-1863. n.p.: Philadelphia : Press of J.B. Lippincott Co., 1904., 1904. Dickinson College Library Catalog.

This source is not a secondary source however; it is extremely relevant to Charles Albrights life. This book is a memoir to the 132^nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, written by one of the soldiers that experienced, firsthand, what Albright did. In fact, the chapters that reflect upon the Battle of Chancellorsville reference Albright directly. This book is a very valuable resource as it recounts Colonel Albrights exact movements throughout the Battle of Chancellorsville. This is also a unique resource because it is a reference of what into Albright experienced throughout the war. When making a bibliography about Albrights life this source will be perfect for recounting his exact movements throughout the Civil War. This source is also an important one in terms of this regiment.  In a war as big as the American Civil War it can be hard to pinpoint exact movements and subsequent actions and consequences but this book makes it all possible, at least for the 132^nd Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.

Palladino, Grace. Another Civil War: Labor, Capital, and the State in the Anthracite Regions of Pennsylvania, 1840-1868. Fordham UP, 2006. Web. [Jstor].

This book, written by Grace Palladino, focuses on politics that Albright was involved with as well, but this time at a more local level. She is writing about another civil war that she is predicting to take place in Pennsylvania due to controversial conflict and subsequent death sentences, ending in 10 people hanging from the gallows. This paper also voices miners and other people affected by mining opinions about the draft for the civil war. Apparently there was “a force of five thousand miners were armed and in league ready to resist the draft” (Palladino 3). Adding this source to the bibliography creates more layers of political involvement for Albright as he was a volunteer in the Union Army.  Alright was also from said area of Pennsylvania.

Rawley, James A. “The General Amnesty Act of 1872: A Note.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 47.3 (1960): 480-84. Web. [Jstor].

This six-page paper, written by James A. Rawley, describes another act passed through Congress at this time period. This act was another step taken by the United States government to aid the process of post-Civil War reconstruction. The purpose of this act was to rid the punishment set in place that punished soldiers of the confederate army, save about 500 military leaders. Before this act people who sided with the Confederacy were not able to vote “for Representatives in Congress and for electors for President and Vice President of the United States” (Rawley 480). The Congress had the roll of deciding which member of the Confederacy would still not be allowed to vote after this act was in place. Once again Charles Albright was in congress when this act was passed.

Sellers, Charles Coleman. Dickinson College. [Electronic Resource] : A History / Charles Coleman Sellers. n.p.: [Carlisle, Pa.] : [Dickinson College], [2000], 2000. Dickinson College Library Catalog. Web. 8 Oct. 2016. [Jstor].

This book, Dickinson College, is known as the most scholarly book published about Dickinson College. Sellers focuses on the history of the school dating all the way back until 1773, when the land was first acquired.  The last chapter talks about the school during the 20^th century, nearly 200 years since these school was founded. While providing major historical context, this book has a general focus of the 19^th century, the time period in which Albright went to school. Dickinson College is a great resource when focusing, not only on Charles Albright, but also any graduate, class or time period.

 

 

 

The next step I took in researching the Dickinson Class of 1852 was looking at 19^th century newspapers, through online databases. This process was both fruitful and time consuming. My basic strategy for finding useful information in these databases was searching for people, in the class  of 1852, who have confirmed death dates. This date helped me narrow my search to around the time of their death to look for an obituary. After looking through the Alumni Record: Dickinson College, I found that of the 55 graduating and non-graduating members of the class, only ten have an exact recorded death date on file. Using this information as a starting point, I then used the Dickinson Library Database Finder, to gain access to multiple websites with literally millions of century old newspapers on file. I started using the 19^th Century U.S. Newspapers database. Through previous research I have found that one of the most renowned members of this class is Charles Albright, so I started my search process with him. I confined my search to within a month of his death, figuring that if someone did write an obituary for him, it would be shortly after he died. This proved to be true as the second link that appeared was a copy of his obituary, published the day after his death. The 19^th Century U.S. Newspapers however, for multiple reasons, was not as helpful on the other members of my class. Some students died in the early 20^th century so the papers being published at the time of their death are not part of this database. After preforming the same search on the other nine members of this class and not finding anything I switched databases. After searching through other databases with no prevail, Accessible Archives and Civil War Era, I finally tried the Chronicling America database that is hosted by the Library of Congress. At this time, I decided to widen my search to articles in the life time of the person that I’m searching. The Chronicling America database proved to be extremely useful. Articles surfaced referring to some of the marriages that Reverend Thomas Sherlock officiated as well as another article talking about Sherlock’s unexpected death.

Published in The North American, Charles Albright’s obituary paints the picture of a well-rounded intellectual who lived a fulfilling life of service to his country as well as his community. After Dickinson Albright studied law up until the Civil War. When Broke out her volunteered with the One  Hundred and Thirty Second regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Albright commanded a brigade in the Union Army at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He also served in the United States Congress after the War. (Albright is pictured right).

The North American  was a daily newspaper that  printed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from the years 1839- 1925. According to Chronicling America, the paper was prominent Whig newspaper. The Whig  party was formed due  to a dislike  of President Andrew Jackson and the Democrats. Their main grievances against the Democrats were, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia, “a severe dislike towards tyranny.”  Prominent national figures joined this party such as Henry Clay from Virginia and Daniel Webster from New Hampshire. The election of  1852 however,  “brought about a quick end to the party and its remnants gravitated toward other parties” (Columbia Encyclopedia). The main party that Whigs resorted  to after the collapse was the Republican party, the antislavery party. It can be inferred that that there would be some bias in this paper as it has clear Republican affiliations. Even the name shows quite clearly what side it is on, The North America. 

There is an incorrect statement in article below. Although Albright went to Dickinson for four years, he did not graduate with the class according to the Dickinson College Alumni Record.

 

There are many articles published that include Dickinson graduate Thomas Sherlock. He was a Methodist reverend who apparently officiated multiple weddings. These articles do not talk into detail  about Sherlock but they make it possible to recognize his work. Shown directly below are two of the articles that list Sherlock as  the reverend at the wedding  on from 1857 and one from 1859. Both of these articles were  published in The Star of The North.  Although it is not clear in these articles this paper affiliates with the Republican Party.

Courtesy of The Star of The North

This third article talks about the unexpected death of Reverend Thomas Sherlock.  According to the article Sherlock went out for a morning walk on the beach, suffered a hemorrhage and died on the spot. Although, this article  is  literally one paragraph long, it still has a powerful message.  Sherlock was a devoted priest but also had a strong sense of community. His death was completely unexpected. The Juniata Sentinel and Republican was a weekly newspaper that was printed in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. The title makes the party affiliation clear.

Works Cited:

“Albright, Charles,” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/4962.

“General Charles Albright of Carbon County”. The North American. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, September 29, 1880. [Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers].

George Leffingwell Reed, ed., Alumni Record: Dickinson College (Carlisle, PA: Dickinson College, 1905).

“The Whig Party.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. New York, New York: Columbia UP, 2012. Print.

“Married”. The Star of the North. Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, January 13^th, 1858. [Chronicling America].

“Married”. The Star of the North. Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, November 16^th, 1859. [Chronicling America].

“Short Locals.” Juniata Sentinel and Republican. Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, Wednesday, September 2^nd, 1855. [Chronicling America].

Collections Search

While researching for information about Dickinson College Class of 1852, the Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections was an excellent resource. In order to find more information about my class I started online, using the college archives website. These list were honestly less helpful than I was hoping. Due to the overwhelming number of pictures, letters, diaries, newspapers, speeches and numerous other items I was, at first, unsure of where exactly to take my search. My class is relatively big, 21 graduates and 34 non-graduates, but there isn’t any one figure that stands out above the rest such as a head of the Smithsonian or the President of the United States. Based on previous research, one area that sparked interest for me was social involvement. Although I did not really know how to find relevant information on such a topic College Archivist James Gerencser and Special Collections Librarian Melinda Doran were extremely helpful. In the first class I had in the archives I was presented with a commencement address written by one of the graduating members of my class, John McCarty. When I first looked over the original copy of John McCarty’s commencement speech I thought that this speech was some sort of graduation address, as they are now. However, during another class in the archives classroom, college archivist James Gerencser informed me, “during this time period every student needed to write a speech, almost like a senior thesis, in order to graduate.” Using finding aides in the archives I was later able to locate more of these commencement speeches. After further research I found that there were in fact 10 speeches in the archives, all in remarkably good condition. These documents provided me with plenty of relevant information about the class of 1852.

Document Identification 

The teachable items that I found at the archives all stem from the first archive that I saw from the class of 1852, a commencement speech by John McCarty. Using McCarty’s speech as a base these speeches were an excellent source for looking into some of the relevant issues facing this class. McCarthy’s speech, titled “A Word for the Poor”, talks about the divide between classes the rich and the poor. He writes about the importance of awareness in terms of the causes of poverty as well as the problems that come with it. On page two of his speech McCarty writes, “Indolence should not be lost sight of as a cause of poverty; she has her victims as well as votaries: those who follow in her train will not always receive the propitious smiles of fortune.” He is warning against the temptations of laziness as he states that it can lead directly to poverty. This speech provides a lot of questions for further inquiry. What were McCarty’s motives for writing about poverty? Other than being born in Allegheny county, Maryland, what facts are known about his home life an upbringing? Perhaps McCarty is writing because he has seen firsthand the pains and sufferings that come with poverty. Did Dickinson College offer classes on the importance of financial stability, driving McCarty’s passion for economic importance? What other ideas were stressed in his classmate’s speeches?

After reading over the other nine speeches from McCarty’s classmates, there seems to be little relevance between McCarty’s speech and his classmates. Other speeches, such as William Andrew Snively’s talks about human development, character and the importance of personal opinion, in a piece titled “The War of Opinion. Joseph Blake Wilson also writes about general human interactions by focusing on inevitable biases, and selfishness. The title of Wilson’s speech is “The Instability of Popular Favor”. Finally, Christian Z.P. Humrich focuses on political justice and protection with a speech titled “Our Destiny”. Although they do not line up with what McCarty was writing about, all of these commencement speeches were very insightful. They showed that there is a similarity between issues 164 years ago, and modern day. One of the most telling signs of this similarity is the picture left at the bottom of Snively’s speech. Shown below, this picture serves as proof that students have been doodling for more than a century.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below is my transcription of the  first paragraph of McCarty’s  speech:

When we see a man in all his symmetry of form, and perfection of in-/ tellect of struggling up the ascent free from the depravities and wicked-/ ness of life, his virtues everything a genial influence upon his fellow/ the scene calls up an emotion of grandeur and sublimity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Humrich, Christian Philip Ziegler. “Our Destiny”. Address delivered at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 8 July 1852. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

McCarty, John. “A Word for the Poor”. Address delivered at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 8 July 1852. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Snively, William Andrew. “The War of Opinion”. Address delivered at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 8 July 1852. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Wilson, Joseph Blake. “The Instability of Popular Favor”. Address delivered at Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, 8 July 1852. Archives and Special Collections, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

 

The Dickinson Class of 1852 contains many different men from a vast varieties of backgrounds. The class contained 21 graduates with 34 non-graduates. The 21 graduates were all very active in extracurricular activities. Out of all 21 men who graduated only three of them were not in either the Belles Lettres Society, Union Philosophical Society or Zeta Psi Fraternity. It would definitely be interesting to research more into these clubs to figure out what exactly appealed to the 18 members of their class. Some of the students were part of both a society and Zeta Psi. Also, 23 members of the non-graduating members of the class were involved in one of these three clubs. The jobs that the graduates of the class of 1852 can be split into seven basic categories.  Four students pursed jobs in law, five in medicine, six in the clergy, three teaching, two in the Army, one in politics and one as a manufacturer of fruit jars. Although the occupations of half of the non-graduates are unknown, the other 17 students pursued similar lives to the students; four became teachers, three became politicians, three joined the Army, three became farmers and one became a merchant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Combining both the graduates of 1852 and non-graduates there are eight states represented, as shown of the graph the states are, from largest too smallest, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, New York, West Virginia, Missouri and New Jersey.

One subject that is always interesting to explore during the mid-1800’s is the American Civil War and the time period leading up to it.  Dickinson College’s Class of 1852 had a total of five graduating and non-graduating members serve in the army, for both the United States of America and the Confederate States of America. The Dickinson Encyclopedia and the House Divided Project help provide more information about these five soldiers, graduates Ulysses Hobbs and John McCarthy and non-graduates Charles Albright, George Freaner and James H. Jarrett. Although there is not a lot of information on some of these men, both Charles Albright and James H. Jarrett are written about.

Charles Albright was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania. Albright left Dickinson in 1851 to pursue a career in law. He soon after became interested in the settlement of Kansas, particularly with a group called the Western Pennsylvania Kansas company “which intended to settle Kansas with men and families of solid anti-slavery and pro-temperance convictions” (Dickinson College Archives). Along with actively trying to stop the spread of slavery Albright also has a key role in President Lincoln’s rise to nomination. He was a delegate on the Republican National Convention, “that nominated Abraham Lincoln” (Dickinson College Archives). By time of the Civil War Albright was ready to fight for the values he had been spreading in Kansas as well for the man that he helped become president. Throughout the war Albright served in the 132nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, the 34th Pennsylvania Militia, and the 202nd Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was at the decisive Battle of Chancellorsville, where he “served for a time in command of a brigade” (Dickinson College Archives). After the war Albright worked at the Second Bank of Mauch Chunk. In 1872, Albright was elected to congress for term.

Although James H. Jarrett did not serve any time for the United States Congress his story is still extremely interesting. After leaving Dickinson College in 1850 he studied at the University of Maryland Medical School. When the Civil War broke out Jarrett had the intention of joining the Union Army. However, he recivded much slack from his parents and community. In fact “his younger brother, who was also a physician served with the Confederate First Maryland Calvary” (House Divided). However, he persisted and  joined the Union cause anyway. Throughout the war he served as a surgeon for “the Third of the  First Army of the Potomac”  (House Divided). After the war he returned to Maryland and opened a surgical practice.

Ancestry.com has many amazing tools, including census records dating back to the 1600’s, used to find information about people while using relatively little information to search for them. These census records provide information about not just where the people live but also who they are living with, occasionally their relationship with the people they are living with, but also general information about their life such as age, ability to read and write, native tongue. This information can be very useful when trying to tracking people throughout their lives, as is the case here when following the life of Ralph Pierce, graduate of Dickinson Class of 1852. The basic search bars in Ancestry.com include full name, the place where the person may have lived and the year that they were born. Before starting the search, you can choose how vague or exact you want the search to be. This is particularly helpful when there is incomplete knowledge about a person. The place of origin can also be as broad as a state in the United States, if it is unclear exactly where the person resided.

There were four relevant census records for Ralph Pierce  on ancestry.com, from 1850, 1870, 1880, and 1910. Pierce was 24 at the time of the 1850 census record. Although it states that his home is in Middleburg, New York, Pierce was still in school at Dickinson at the time. When not at school Pierce was living with William and Maria Oliver, who were not his parents. The second census record is 20 years later and at this time Ralph Pierce is living in Jefferson, Tennessee. At this time, he is the home owner of for this family. Although it appears that the four children living with him are his own, there is no confirmation of that on Ancestry.com. Ten years later Pierce is still living in Jefferson, Tennessee, but he is now living with six people who were not present in the last census records. There are multiple possible explanations for this information. During this time, recording accurate data was much more difficult than it is now. One census record could have recorded the first names of these people while the second one used accidentally used their middle names. It is also possible that the children Pierce was living with grew up and moved out of the house. The census record of 1880 clearly states that Pierce is married at this time and that these are his children. The final census record that Ralph Pierce appears in is in 1910 which, according to the census, makes him 87 years old. This however, contradicts previous census records in which he was 24, 43, and 53. Upon further investigation, using the Find a Grave Index on ancestry.com, a link was found to the description of his grave site. It shows that he died in 1908. This site also shows that his son lives with him in both the 1870 and 1880 census, once as Charles and once as Herbert. Following the life of Ralph Pierce has shown how much help ancestry.com can be when trying to track one person throughout their life.  This research also brings to light how all information gathered should be varied by more than one source.

Shown below are the four census record for Ralph Pierce. The highlighted yellow columns are Ralph Pierce.

 

1850 Census

 

 

 

 

 

1870 Census

 

 

 

 

 

1880 Census

 

 

 

 

1910  Census

 

 

 

 

Works cited:

“Albright, Charles,” Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections,  http://archives.dickinson.edu/people/charles-albright-1830-1880

“Albright, Charles,” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/4962.

“Jarrett, James Henry,” House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/5975.

“Rev Ralph Pierce,” Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=144748538