For all things historical, including your family tree, the Rye Historical Society is the best source of information in town.
For all things historical, including your family tree, the Rye Historical Society is the best source of information in town.
“Until recently, we could only provide research assistance if a person had Rye lineage,” said Director Sheri Jordan. But starting this month, the Society’s services branched out.
Christine Moore was helping inventory the Society’s collection with Lisa Liese, the friend who’d gotten her involved, when she happened to mention her interest in genealogy to Ms. Jordan.
“I have been from the time I was a child in Scotland, listening to my grandmother tell stories about our ancestors,” recalled Ms. Moore, who has lived in Rye for more than a decade.
Ms. Moore volunteered to do research on the Old Milton Cemetery, to determine how many of the markers are still there. The Society has the original plan.
Meanwhile, another Rye resident, Jana Seitz, who was out kayaking, saw a very old gravestone floating in Blind Brook, and contacted the Historical Society.
“We found the gravestone after Hurricane Irene and assumed it had been washed down in the storm,” said Ms. Jordan. “We wanted to follow that story. Christine got to work and her research made it clear it had to have reached the brook by other methods.” It turns out the gravestone was from a family garden in Stamford that was nowhere near a body of water.
When Director Jordan asked Christine if she’d like to do genealogical research for the Society, she accepted with pleasure.
“Genealogy is more than just dates, names, and facts. It’s the stories behind them.”
Christine Moore is now helping families uncover those stories Tuesdays and Saturdays from 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Knapp House . The Rye Historical Society has set up an account with ancestry.com. Call 967-7588 or e-mail genealogy@ryehistoricalsociety.org.