
THE HOLLINGSWORTH REGISTER	VOLUME 14, NUMBER 3.

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PUBLIC OFFICIALS	E D I T O R I A L -continued-	AND PUBLIC RECORDS


(or at least in my lifetime) be kept out of the reach of the clutching, tongue-wagging, clucking, gnarled old claws of those gargoyles called "public servants" whose cubbyholes are littered with mountainous folios of rhetoric and legislation, designed to take from the majority their own historical records, and sell them back at a fee. In Ireland, the Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Church of Ireland clergy sit tight upon their parish records, rather to see them rot, than to let them be copied. In the United States, one Rep. Charles H. Wilson, chairman of the Post Office Committee (D. California, my own District Representative, unfortunately), sat for half a decade on the release of the 1900 U.S. Census, trying if he could to suppress it altogether. Fortunately, the old f--t failed. (I wrote him quoting the above passage, humbly begging his permission to print it. Not obtaining any answer by deadline, I printed it anyway.) But there are other "committees" who are far more dangerous than him, scattered all across the nation. They must be stopped. Prepare to show your fangs, bare your claws, and even to spue your poison, if need be, to return rebuke for rebuke. Fight every attempt to legislate even the smallest impingement on your right to examine every public record! Lobby. March. Shout. Stamp your feet. If you are wealthy, use your money to get those officials out of office. I really couldn't care less how you choose to accomplish it. The plain speech of this inflamatory editorial is designed to warn my readers of the enemies of genealogy, and those who wish to impose what I called years ago in this journal, a "genealogy tax." Surely, this article could never be printed in any other publication. OBITUARY: (1) Thomas Hollingsworth, Esqr., Barbados, W.I., 1815. 1815, March 8. At Barbados, in his 41st year, Thos. Hollingsworth, esq., in whom the community at large have lost an invaluable individual; the widow and orphan a disinterested friend; and whose strong, self-cultivated mind could alone be surpassed by the extreme gentleness of his manners, and excellence of his heart. His remains were followed to the grave by above 2000 of the inhabitants, the most respectable, by turns, bearing the body of their ever-deplored friend. (From The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 117, p. 566. This man probably a descendant of the Hollingsworths who had lived in Barbados since the late 1600s.) Clark County, Illinois Marriages Period of coverage: 1819-1899. (1) Addison Hollingsworth to Isabell Bush, 21 Feb 1861 Book D, p. 45. (2) Sarah M. Hollingsworth to Francis E. Leseure, 29 July 1865 E:205. (3) Susan Hollingsworth to John J. Myers, 11 Jan. 1866. E:233.

Continued on Page 59 \| Return to 14-3 TOC \| Return to Main Index

(or at least in my lifetime) be kept out of the reach of the clutching, tongue-wagging, clucking, gnarled old claws of those gargoyles called "public servants" whose cubbyholes are littered with mountainous folios of rhetoric and legislation, designed to take from the majority their own historical records, and sell them back at a fee.

In Ireland, the Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Church of Ireland clergy sit tight upon their parish records, rather to see them rot, than to let them be copied. In the United States, one Rep. Charles H. Wilson, chairman of the Post Office Committee (D. California, my own District Representative, unfortunately), sat for half a decade on the release of the 1900 U.S. Census, trying if he could to suppress it altogether. Fortunately, the old f--t failed. (I wrote him quoting the above passage, humbly begging his permission to print it. Not obtaining any answer by deadline, I printed it anyway.) But there are other "committees" who are far more dangerous than him, scattered all across the nation. They must be stopped. Prepare to show your fangs, bare your claws, and even to spue your poison, if need be, to return rebuke for rebuke. Fight every attempt to legislate even the smallest impingement on your right to examine every public record! Lobby. March. Shout. Stamp your feet. If you are wealthy, use your money to get those officials out of office. I really couldn't care less how you choose to accomplish it.

The plain speech of this inflamatory editorial is designed to warn my readers of the enemies of genealogy, and those who wish to impose what I called years ago in this journal, a "genealogy tax." Surely, this article could never be printed in any other publication.

OBITUARY:
(1) Thomas Hollingsworth, Esqr., Barbados, W.I., 1815.

1815, March 8. At Barbados, in his 41st year, Thos. Hollingsworth, esq., in whom the community at large have lost an invaluable individual; the widow and orphan a disinterested friend; and whose strong, self-cultivated mind could alone be surpassed by the extreme gentleness of his manners, and excellence of his heart. His remains were followed to the grave by above 2000 of the inhabitants, the most respectable, by turns, bearing the body of their ever-deplored friend. (From The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 117, p. 566. This man probably a descendant of the Hollingsworths who had lived in Barbados since the late 1600s.)

Clark County, Illinois Marriages

Period of coverage: 1819-1899.

(1) Addison Hollingsworth to Isabell Bush, 21 Feb 1861 Book D, p. 45.
(2) Sarah M. Hollingsworth to Francis E. Leseure, 29 July 1865 E:205.
(3) Susan Hollingsworth to John J. Myers, 11 Jan. 1866. E:233.

Continued on Page 59 | Return to 14-3 TOC | Return to Main Index

THE HOLLINGSWORTH REGISTER

VOLUME 14, NUMBER 3.