PREFACСЕ. BY JOHN T. HASSAM. THE first part of Volume I. of Mr. Waters's "Genealogical Gleanings in England" contained the various instalments of Genealogical Notes contributed by him to the NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER from July, 1883, to April, 1885, inclusive. The second part contains those published in the REGISTER from July, 1885, to April, 1887, inclusive. To some of these articles I added certain explanatory remarks by way of introduction, and these remarks it has been thought advisable to reprint here in this preface, in order not to break the continuity of Mr. Waters's notes. The article on "John Harvard and his Ancestry," Part I., in the REGISTER for July, 1885 (xxxix. 265) (pp. 117-134 this book), was preceded by the following introductory note: The Committee on English Research of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, under whose direction Mr. Waters is now pursuing his investigations in England, have on more than one occasion asserted that the method of search adopted by him-so different from that of his predecessors would without fail enable him to bring to light what had escaped the notice of all other antiquaries. Striking proofs of the correctness of this statement have been already afforded by the remarkable discoveries Mr. Waters has hitherto made, and the following paper, in which the parentage and ancestry of John Harvard are for the first time conclusively shown, will add still another. In 1842, the late James Savage, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society and author of the "Genealogical Dictionary of New England," went to England for the express purpose of ascertaining what could be learned of the early history of John Harvard; but although Mr. Everett, then our minister to the court of St. James, rendered every assistance in his power, no trace of Harvard could be found, except his signature on taking his degrees at the University of Cambridge. Mr. Savage tells us that he would gladly have given five hundred dollars to get five lines about him in any capacity, public or private. Since that date others have made efforts equally unavailing. |