Book Serendipity

8 November 2022 Another book serendipity moment. Somehow in my purchase of books for the writing of our family history I managed to buy only one I already had a copy of. I was thinking that it did not really have information about the families we are researching. It is, “A History of the Cutter Family of New England,” by Dr. Benjamin Cutter in 1871. There are four entries in the index for the Tidd family. This copy is a revision by William Richard Cutter. This is a copy of the original. The other copy I donated to a Family History Center. With my GFO life membership it cost only $6, so it was not a lot of money and now it is in a new home. The key for the serendipity moment was found as I entered the information about the newest purchase into the database of my 800+ collection of genealogy books. On the cover page it lists after the author’s name, “of Woburn, Mass.” The lightbulb went off in my head as I realized that these were associates of our ancestors from 1640 at settlement to the 1785 death of the last relative. There were a total of 42 births, 38 marriages, 38 deaths and 3 burials for the Tidd family during that time. The book has a great index, but there is so much more about the history of the place that it certainly warrants a good reading! I am very thankful to live in a time when we have so many resources available. The key is using them fully and recording them for future researchers.