My Reflections on the Haven Family Genealogy
Robert W. Haven
A week ago, as I was wasting time searching for my own name on the Internet ("ego surfing"), I found some Web page references to another Robert W. Haven, professor of costume technology in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Kentucky. Just on a whim, I sent him a brief email remarking that he was the only other Robert W. Haven I had ever encountered, and that I just wanted to say "hi". I didn't know that casual email would start me on a mission to learn my Haven family history.
Bob in Kentucky wrote back and seemed happy to hear from another Haven. He said he was the descendent of a Richard Haven who came to Lynn, Massachusetts from England in 1644. As soon as I read that, I knew that I was related to this other Robert W. Haven. I too am a descendent of Richard Haven, who was born about 1620. For a long time, I've possessed a transcription of The Last Will and Testament of Richard Haven.
I immediately found a file folder of Haven genealogy information given to me years ago by my dad. There, on old typewritten and photocopied sheets, were the Last Will and Testament of Richard Haven, the Haven Family Line from Richard Haven to Edwin Haven, and family lines for the Goodell and Wilmot women that married into the Haven family. I started transcribing the hard-to-read documents to computer files so that I could share them with Robert in Kentucky, and post them on the Web for other people investigating Haven family names.
The documents were the result of years of investigation by my father's cousin, Keith Hoffmaster, the son of Amy Haven and a 10th generation descendent of Richard Haven. Keith finished his history in 1952 and distributed the set of documents to various family members. It is remarkable how much Keith was able to discover without the assistance of electronic communications and the Internet. He identified the complete line of Haven men, from Richard to Edwin, as well as some of the other children in each of their families. He found places of residence, dates of birth, and dates of death. He also included some anecdotes that cannot be found anywhere other than his history.
While transcribing his "Haven Family Line" document, I searched Web sites to confirm the information, fill in missing dates, and add sons and daughters that were missing from Keith's family lists. I was able to expand the information significantly, increasing the document from three pages to 14 pages. It soon became my goal to include not only all the children in each family in my line, but also all the children's marriages and the names of all grandchildren. To a large extent I was successful. I am grateful to some commercial genealogy web sites, the FamilyTree Web site managed by the Mormons, and especially the dedicated individuals who have posted extensive family histories on the Web.
As I worked on finding more names and dates for my history, it was interesting how involved in the process I became. I've never been very interested in genealogy. What meaning does a list of names and dates have? But I found the investigation to be more interesting than the result. As I worked on one generation at a time, I became rather obsessed with finding the information I was missing. I felt strongly driven by a desire to provide that information for other people investigating their ancestry. I thought that perhaps my discovery and inclusion of a missing grandchild's name would provide the "missing link" enabling another investigator to complete his family line. I know that, in several instances, there was only one person's Web page providing the link I needed to find important names.
Even with the World Wide Web, genealogy research is challenging. No single Web site has all the information, even for a single generation of a family. Information is sometimes incorrect. Encountering dead ends is common. But countless Internet searches, using different search engines, and searching for many variations in name and date formats and spellings, slowly yields the desired information. Sometimes, family member names are only mentioned in a fellow searcher's message board posting, and that data can't be considered reliable. Other times, a name and date are confirmed when they are found in U.S. Census data or a cemetery gravestone transcription that someone has posted on the Web, and finding that kind of reliable confirmation is exciting and rewarding.
Studying a particular Haven family generation for so long, I began to feel connected to that family. I imagined the hardship of being among the first settlers of wilderness in Ohio and Michigan; the endless and thankless hard work of clearing forest land and building log cabins to live in; the labor of farming new, unturned land; the heartbreak of losing three children in a row, each under one and a half years of age. Surviving infancy was no guarantee of a long life when consumption (tuberculosis) could kill at any age, as happened to the lovely and graceful Sylvia Haven, taken at age 20 in 1858. I feel like I witnessed the end of Sally Haven's life in 1872, from this account written by her son James Nichols:
I approached her bedside as in the presence of death and taking her hand with energy said, "Mother, do you know we think you are about to leave us?" She gave no sign of intelligence and I repeated it with more emphasis. She started, made a great effort to open her eyes, and said distinctly, "I know that my Redeemer lives." What comfort that sweet sentence gives. She never spoke again.
I am awed by the strength and ruggedness of all of those families. They were pioneers in every sense of the word and exemplified the values that made America great.
Why did they keep moving and subjecting themselves to new hardships? They moved from England to Massachusetts, to New Hampshire, to Ohio, and to Michigan, always among the first to settle those lands. Most people, when asked that question, say that the purpose of their sacrifice is to make life better for their children. I imagine Richard, Nathaniel, James, Elisha, and all the other Havens would say the same. Certainly their lives were not easy. The day before he died in 1867, Andrew Nichols, husband of Sally Haven, told his son, "I have lived long enough. Could I be placed back thirty years I rather go on. Life with me has been a constant struggle and I hope it is about to close."
Those early pioneers who suffered so long certainly succeeded if their mission was to improve life for their descendents. While all the Haven family members I know today continue the Haven tradition of hard and diligent work, our lives are immeasurably easier than life in the colonies and wilderness. It seems impossible to even start to grasp the daily challenges our predecessors faced. The comfortable life we live today, in our well-heated homes and office spaces, with modern medical care and computer-automated businesses, is the result of the cumulative effort of all of our fore families. We can honor them today (and I think we owe this to them) by living good lives, and doing our best to prevent (modern day) hardships that they worked so long and hard in order that we not suffer them.
- Bob Haven
Eugene, Oregon
December, 2004