Learning at the National Heritage Museum

WELCOME to our Blog: Learning at the National Heritage Museum- Using Primary Sources to Reconstruct the Past

This weblog is a way for the National Heritage Museum to serve as host, authority, and facilitator of using primary sources to reconstruct the past.  Please click on About the Learning Blog for an explanation of purpose, how to use the information posted, downloadable assignments for the elementary classroom, and what you can do to enhance our blog through your feedback.

The following posts include sources and materials adapted from the exhibition: “Sowing the Seeds of Liberty: Lexington and the American Revolution" and contributed information generated through the Museum Department of Education and Public Programs.

This site is for discussion purposes only and does not represent the official views of The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry for the N.M.J. or the National Heritage Museum.  Any views expressed on this website are those of the individual post author only.  Neither the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry or the N.M.J. nor the National Heritage Museum accept any liability for the content of this site.

Family, Home & Farm: Family

Primary Source / Item: vital records

(Images courtesy of Concord Free Public Library and

the VanGorden-Williams Library & Archives of the National Heritage Museum, F 74 .L67 H91 1913 v.2)

Reconstructing a family history begins with genealogy.  For almost all towns in Massachusetts, vital records were gathered from church, town, graveyard and private sources into registers that were published as "Vital Records to 1850." (See image, left.) These public documents are arranged by "Births," "Marriages," and "Deaths."  For many towns, like Lexington, there are town genealogies compiled and published by town historians, such as Charles Hudson's 1868 "History of Lexington." (right.)

These sources, along with tax documents, teach us many things about individuals and families.  For instance, Benjamin Estabrook of Lexington married Hannah Hubbard of Concord in May of 1757.  They had 8 children by April of 1775, ranging in age from 17 years to 6 months.  They lived in the same house that was built by a relative of Benjamin, who had been the town's first minister in 1691.  Four generations of Estabrooks had farmed their 92 acres, and ran the grist mill they shared with another Lexington family, the Lorings.  The Lorings are featured in the Museum's exhibition "Sowing the Seeds of Liberty."  Benjamin was a well-known and respected citizen.  His neighbors elected him to serve as selectman, moderator of town meetings, justice of the peace, and coroner.  While he was not a member of the town militia, he served in the campaign of Ticonderoga in 1776.  Benjamin owned a slave named Prince, who was a member of the militia and fought with the patriots for most of the war.  (One recommended book is by author Alice Hinkle, "Prince Estabrook, Slave and Soldier.")

Here is how this can be applied in the elementary classroom:  Lessons 19a and 19b.

Family, Home & Farm: Home

Primary Source / Item(s):  buildings and probate records

(Images courtesy of MA State Archives and National Park Service)

Many of the historic buildings preserved in New England have changed very little in 300 years, homes like the Samuel Brooks House of the Minute Man National Historical Park in Concord, Massachusetts.  Although it was a private residence until the late twentieth century, and has modern plumbing, etc., we are able to imagine how it looked in the mid eighteenth century by comparing the way it looks now to archival photographs from the nineteenth century.  With a basic understanding of traditional architecture of the place and the period, safe assumptions can be made.  The book "Big House, Little House, Back House, Barn" by Thomas Hubka illustrates the particular traditions and habits of New England's yeomen farmers that remain evident today.

In addition, probate records often describe the configuration and content of rooms and outbuildings, which are very useful in picturing the past of an historic building.  Above is a page from the will of Samuel Brooks of 1758, wherein he evenly dispenses of household items for his daughters.  We can tell from his will that the house contained two parlors, a summer (or 'back') kitchen, a winter kitchen, two sleeping chambers and a loft. 

Here's how this can be applied in the elementary classroom:  Lesson 19c