Well another six months have ticked by and with no major course changes regarding the book. We have had an extremely mild winter with less than twenty percent of the usual snowfall. Early spring has been equally weird with a couple of serious hot spells that really messed up the vegetation. Lately things have been relatively normal.
All of the data collected in Hawaii has been incorporated into the files. Naturally there are now new questions that could be best addressed by another trip, but that is not feasible. A second round of searching at the Family History Center is winding down and should be finished this month. It involves a thorough review of the Delayed Birth Records. There is a new process of ordering films on line. About forty films were involved in this review.
Since the 1940 US Census will not be indexed for several months, my impatience has escaped. A visual scan has been taking place and to date I have finished Hawaii County and over half of Maui County (a total of some 2750 pages). Because of past residential information the visual scan will be limited to three counties – Hawaii, Maui and Honolulu (Oahu). So far the following has been done-The County of Hawaii (79 Enumeration Districts) – 1730 pages and the County of Maui (40 Enumeration Districts) 1266 pages. The County of Honolulu (201 Enumeration Districts) is over 10% done – 25 districts – 427 pages.
My wife, Sheila and my editor, Suzanne and I have been reading, fixing and rewriting ad nauseam for five months. Hopefully the first edit will be finished by the end of the month. Then a pause until the 1940 index is available. With luck, the next entry here should be able to report on that issue.

Have a pleasant summer and stay healthy.

Aloha

Al

Another milestone in the development of Volume II has been achieved. On September 21, 2011 I boarded a flight from the Albany, NY Airport – destination “paradise”, aka Honolulu, Hawaii. My wife was scheduled to go but broke two bones, one just before departure that really messed up plans and forced her to miss the experience. However, I met my brother Steve and his wife Mary, as was planned, and struggled to enjoy ourselves.
Upon arrival we met with Rowena Lincoln and Clayton Chee and had a fine lunch at the Aloha Tower. Clayton and Rowena have been email buddies and fantastic Lincoln family resources for many years. It was a very happy meeting (followed by several more during my stay).
The three of us then adjourned to our hotel on Waikiki Beach and the next two days were spent exploring Honolulu. This was followed by a very enjoyable seven day cruise around the islands, returning to Honolulu on October 1st. Steve and Mary returned home and I moved into a studio apartment – the search had begun.
Over the next three weeks, I made a pest of myself at The Hawaii State Library, Hawaiian Bureau of Conveyances, Hawaiian Archives, The Honolulu Family History Center, The Bishop Museum, The Hawaiian Historical Society, The Hamilton Library of the University of Hawaii and briefly visited The Department of Health, Vital Records office.
The Vital Records agency is not set up to allow individual research and was not productive. All other agencies were very receptive and the friendly staff provided interactive assistance. The specificity of the information I was seeking did limit the ability of some agencies, such as the Bishop Museum and the Hamilton Library, to provide data. This was to be expected, however, they were very receptive to my inquiries.
The State Library provided considerable data with special emphasis on newspaper files. A large collection of obituaries were obtained which added much new material to the database. They also had death and marriage indexes and other records including copies of Laie Family History Center records. The Family History Center provided some welcome family records. The staff at the Bureau of Conveyances was especially helpful in steering me through the maze of records involved in tracking the land transactions of various Lincolns, especially following the path of Lorenzo’s original 520 acre ranch.
One of the most exciting visits was to the Archives. Being able to read documents in the handwriting of King Kamehameha, Lord Paulette, Lorenzo Lincoln and many others was a rare treat. Their tax records for the South Kona District helped verify family records that Lorenzo’s eldest son George did in fact die in Keei, S. Kona on or about January 2, 1912.
In addition to all of these activities, Clayton showed me the mapped, but unmarked, location of Lorenzo Lincoln’s grave in the Oahu Cemetery and several photos were taken.
While visiting the Hawaiian Historical Society, Director Barbara Dunn introduced me to Administrative Assistant Ipo Santos-Bear a descendant of the Lincoln family. This in turn resulted in some very pleasant meetings with several Lincoln family members.
After three weeks in Honolulu, a brief flight put me at the Kailua-Kona airport on the Big Island, where I spent a very interesting week as the guest of Vernon Lincoln, Rowena’s brother. I visited several libraries, the Anna’s Ranch Museum and the Kailua Family History Center. Again, I was able to meet some very nice people.
Vernon was a generous host and took me to see the site of Lorenzo’s ranch at Kawaihae-uka. Vernon has a band and one evening I watched them play for an Elks Club Halloween party – good time and good music.
I was able to meet with Dr. Momi Naughton , a long time email contributor. While at her office I was able to visit with Charlie Kimura, a member of the Hawaiian Paniola (Cowboy) Hall of Fame. Dr. Naughton convinced me to attend a Paniola Preservation Society program – a Paniola Talk Story called Chicken Skin (goosebumps), Ghost Stories. Terrific stories, excellent chili, friendly people and good entertainment. Dr.Naughton introduced me to Dr. Billy Bergin, veterinarian and author of the three volume history of the famous Parker Ranch.
While at Anna’s Ranch (owned by Anna Lindsey Fisk-Perry, who became owner of 300 acres of Lorenzo’s ranch) I had a personal tour and an excellent Hawaiian lunch at the Farmers Market on the front lawn. Several years ago I helped with the identification of a French - Model 1842 musket, from the Lincoln Ranch. The musket is hanging on the wall at the ranch.
Clayton Chee arranged for me to meet Mary Ann Lim, a family descendant and the matriarch of the musically famous Lim Family. She met me at the N Kohala Library and presented me with a handmade lei, which made it back to New York. We had a very pleasant afternoon at her home, discussing the family and genealogy.
The flight back to Honolulu was followed by a last day at the Archives and the Library and a final meeting with Rowena and Clayton. The next day started a 20 hour flight home.
Now I am deeply into adding the new material to the database. This will be immediately followed with the initial revision of the first draft, which was typed this summer.
Current plans call for rewrites for the next several months while waiting for the release of the 1940 US census data. Once the census data has been incorporated, work will proceed on a final copy which, hopefully, will be to the printers before 2013.

Hope you have a Happy Holiday season !

Al Clarke
November

Hello again
Well another six months have passed and the work on Volume II continues it’s measured pace. Most chapters are now in a rough draft form. My wife is recovering from a broken leg so I have lots of time to spend with the Lincolns.
The Family History Center project is now close to an end. It started in December 2008 and should be finished by early August. It averaged one trip a week for some 130 weeks and does not include a week spent at the main library at Salt Lake City. At the present time the total of films reviewed stands at 395. Based on the current status, the Hawaiian research trip has been scheduled and will begin in September. The return date has been left open.
This winter will be spent incorporating any data found on the Hawaiian trip and working on the draft. Current plans call for publication after the release of the 1940 census data.

Have a pleasant summer!

Al Clarke

Aloha nui
It is hard to realize that a whole year has passed since the last entry in this segment of the website - gross negligence on my part. Once again the pond is frozen over, my father is now a memory and time marches on, oblivious to we mortals. The visitations to the Mormon Family History Center continue, now in the 23rd month. The count of films read/reviewed now approaches 350 and may well exceed 400 before an anticipated spring 2011 end to this part of the research. In the meantime, the book continues to take shape. The Table of Contents is up to about 45 entries and reasonable complete. Some of the narrative has been rough drafted and Rowena Lincoln Pettus has agreed to help with the editing of some sections. New data continues to flow in including a fantastic set of photos from Kolina Manusina. They include a photo of an elderly MaryAnn Bell (George Washington Lincoln's "other wife") two photos of Maryann's daughter Caroline (adult and elderly) and two pictures of Caroline's daughter Rose (as a young child and as an adult).
Once again fate has assisted our efforts. This is truly a family effort and I am happy to act as family archivist and amanuensis. Speculation is afoot for a Hawaiian research trip in the fall of 2011, but the research at the Family History Center must be completed first. Also, a decision has been made to await the availability of the 1940 census (apparently some time in 2012) before setting a publishing date. I hope this is not being too optimistic for a 71 year old.
Once again, Mahalo nui to all who have contributed to this, their family history. May your holiday be all that you wish for.

Mele Kalikimaka a me Hauoli Makahiki Hou

More later
A J CLARKE

     
Hello and Aloha
Today is the birthday of my daughter and my father, he is 95. Genealogically speaking, much of this year has been spent reviewing microfilm related to the Hawaiian Islands and available through the local Family History Center of the Mormon Church. In June, a week-long visit to the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City was included as part of this research. A conservative estimate of the number of films reviewed at this time is well over 150 and the task will spill over into the year 2010 and approach 15 months in duration. A small illustration of the size of the task is as follows - one set of nine films was not adequately indexed so each page had to be scanned for relevant entries. Each film averaged 900 pages of entries with an average of 35 entries per page, a total of over a quarter of a million lines of print. Further, this example was not selected as an extreme but as a reasonable illustration of the situation when dealing with non indexed records. Volume II is now in progress. A table of contents has been established and a few thousand words have been rough drafted in a few chapters. Much research remains to be done including a field trip to the Islands, an activity that has been delayed once already to provide more time for preparation for this key part of the process. Time marches on, and as in the first volume, at some point the decision will have to be reached and a commitment made to print what is available (note that there is no reference to an end to the research).

     Several years ago, while researching Nedabiah Lincoln’s branch of the Lincoln family, the form of the project began to make itself known. Specifically it seemed to naturally fall into two sections. The portion relating to the continental United States was well formed, approaching a possible publication status and had a manageable size. To add the Hawaiian segment would create an unwieldy sized document. Further, that portion needed considerable more research and would postpone publishing the available data.
The result was a published Volume 1. As soon as that task was completed (December 2008) attention was returned to the research of Hawaiian descendants of Lorenzo Lincoln and the development of Volume II. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum – two other Lincoln family lines surfaced in Hawaii and because of using a process of elimination, the Hawaiian - Lorenzo Lincoln project, expanded to a Hawaiian - Lincoln, project.
“Stray” Lincolns appear and disappear from Hawaiian records (frequently because of military activities) but three Lincoln families were present in Hawaii before the kingdom came under U.S. control by the annexation of July 7, 1898.
They were:
George Walter Lincoln, who seems to have been born in New York, arrived in Hawaii about 1876, (This G. W. Lincoln is often confused with another G. W. Lincoln - George Washington Lincoln, one of Lorenzo’s four sons.) George Walter’s sons left Hawaii before starting families, thus simplifying the tracking of his family re Hawaii. George Walter’s descendant, Mr. Lawrence Roberts, has been of tremendous help in working with this family.
Lyman Lincoln was born in Boston and arrived in Hawaii (via California) in 1890. A Mr. Richard Souther, descendant, has generously provided me with an extensive genealogy tracing Lyman back to Samuel “the weaver “ Lincoln. Again, being able to separate this Lincoln line has been of considerable assistance in the research.
Lorenzo B. Lincoln is the focus of Volume II. He was born in Taunton Massachusetts in 1808, the first child of Nedabiah Lincoln II and grandson of Nedabiah Lincoln sr. In late 1833 or early 1834 he left Massachusetts (probably aboard a whaler) and ended up in Hawaii (a very common whaler provisioning stop) in 1836. His arrival in 1836 most certainly makes him the first Lincoln to settle in the Sandwich Islands.

For those of you who stumble upon this website I extend an open invitation, if you are able to offer any information or corrections please contact me at aclark1@nycap.rr.com

Updated 05/17/12