|
and No. 15, Magdalena3 Tennis, also to No. 17, Amelia4 Shoemaker, to whom
I have gathered more than 400, 250 and 1,100, respectively.
Other individuals and families were in the same category, unfortunately
so, as the lapse of time destroyed all trace, to some of
them.
So, while the labor of my whilom friend and relative--whose recent decease
I mourn--was of immeasurable value to me as a pointer to families listed in
his formulary, I could use it only as material, "bricks without
straw", in the genealogical structure I have built,
regretting that the erosions of time have obliterated some of the data,
which, as architectural adornments, should have graced the plinth stones.
The historical feature of the publication of 1858 was of local annals
only, and quite limited in this respect. Notwithstanding
the short-comings of the compilation, the meed of praise is due its author
for having incited family unity, and rendered the clan Levering, a
possibility. But for his pride in his maternal ancestry, no history of the
Levering family might have been written.
Said Professor Matthews: "Every writer is necessarily indebted to his
contemporaries, and to his predecessors." With this license from so high
source, I may use, to some extent, the statements of my old
friend, and not be chargeable with "building upon another man's
foundation."
From the time I learned of the existence of the ancient town of
Leverington, in Cambridgeshire, England, I have been impressed that the place
had relation to the first or earliest families of the name
LEVERING. After consenting with the Levering Historical Association to
undertake the compilation of a family history, my early efforts were directed
toward determining that relation. Of course, the initial steps of inquiry
must be taken in, or near to the town. Happily, my brother, William H.
Levering, was a member of the literary association known as the Victoria
Institute of London, England. He placed me in communication with the
Honorable Secretary of that organization, who, promptly answered requests for
local correspondents of skill, as historical and genealogical searchers.
Fortunately, the rector of the Ancient Protestant Episcopal Church at
Leverington, Rev. C. B. Drake, occupying the "Leverington Rectory,"
was commended as an expert. His services have proven very valuable to me:
diligent in search and punctual in correspondence.
Responding to my request for an
exhaustive examination of all old local records, for the family name, he
performed the labor and reported that neither the Registers
of the Parish, which have been preserved for many generations, nor the Rolls
of the Manorial Courts
|