Address of Edward Shippen, M.D., U.S.N.

ADDRESS OF EDWARD SHIPPEN, M.D., U.S.N., President of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, at the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Society, March 3, 1896. — Gentlemen : We, or many of us, at least, remember when anyone who showed an intelligent interest in genealogy either his own or some one else’s was considered by indul¬ gent friends to have a fad, harmless, perhaps, but quite ludicrous to persons who, at the same time, were very likely deeply interested in the pedigrees of race horses. As the interest in genealogy grew mostly within the last thirty years it at first, very naturally, assumed a restricted form that of research in one’s own family records. Smith books, Jones books and Robinson books which had been rather rare before, began to appear by the dozen, and then by the score, many of them monuments of industry and of typography, and even of binding. One thing is espe¬ cially to be remarked about most of them, and that is the endeavor after truth. There is, in them, as a rule, very little cooking, and what was finally printed was the result of patient and often toilsome search. This awakened interest in genealogy; even in the restricted sense (that of the family), was a good thing. An¬ cestry is the foundation of society, and a proper pride of family is a great incentive to clean living and good citizen¬ ship. A broader idea than that, however, was the cause of the founding of our Society. We wish to interest and serve not only searchers after particular pedigrees by far the greatest in number but we are also working for those who have, in the first place, the history of our Commonwealth at heart. Secondly, we wish to serve those who have questions of inheritance to settle, and, to accomplish both of these objects, we are endeavoring to put in an accessible form, and to pre¬ serve from accidental or wilful destruction, records which — — — — — — — — (98) Address of Edward Shippen, M.D., U.S.N. 99 can never be replaced if lost, and which, once in safety, must grow in value as time goes on. Our efforts are not patent to the world. Our work is quietly, and as we think, modestly conducted ; but we do ven¬ ture to hope that, at some future day, people who may have occasion to use the material which we are storing up, and placing within their easy reach, may rise up and call us blessed. I say in all humility, for it is not always well to blow one’s own trumpet, but in this case it is the truth, that it is remarkable how much this young society has accomplished since its formation, a little more than four years ago. You have heard, or will hear some of you have seen for yourselves of the volumes of copies and abstracts, embracing our own and adjoining counties, which have been placed upon our shelves, free to all who properly present them¬ selves, and easy of access to the inquirer. Where, before, it often required expert knowledge, and almost always time and patience, the unskilled inquirer can now often determine a point in a few minutes. If this has been done when working with less than a thousand dollars a year, I ask what might be accomplished with two or three times that amount, backed by the intelli¬ gent efforts of our owrn corps of zealous workers, several of whom are experts in this line? We need missionaries, gentlemen, in this matter to labor among the membership of the Historical Society, and to enlist in the support of our endeavors those who are willing to assist us with the subscriptions necessary to enlarge the scope of our labors. All we need is more means. We are well set in the work, and believe that we understand what is to be done much better than we did during our first tentative efforts. Persons who are now or who may become, interested in our work, are asked to examine its character and scope. It is, for the most part, simply work what Mr. Lincoln, in his sublime simplicity, called “ pegging away ” and we have what he always had a definite object. — — — — —