Re: Dr. Ellis Santee's Book
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In reply to:
Dr. Ellis Santee's Book
Bert Stevenson 5/31/00
Bert, I feel I must reply to your posting as I am the one you are referring to as stating "Mr. Santee didn’t like anything that didn’t "look proper" such as births too close to marriage." From this you inferred that he fudged dates to make things look proper instead of leaving the information out of the book.
I am sorry you took my comment negatively and so strongly suggest I think Dr. Santee was "dishonest."I have been doing research for about 25-30 years and I know how dangerous "inferring" can get....I am very meticulous with my research and know assuming can get me into trouble.
I made a number of trips to Luzerne Co, PA and corresponded with Dr. Santee's niece through marriage and SHE (who would know better than a close relative) is the one who made that quote about "looking proper"
You must realize that Dr. Santee didn't marry Martha "Jennie" Wood until late in life because they were afraid, being close relations, of having children [they were 2nd cousins once removed). Ellis Santee married & lived in Cortland, NY, moving back to Hunlock Creek to retire. Here he pursued Jennie until she agreed to marry him in 1922.
If you have been doing research for 10 years,you must have gotten a "feel" by now that in smaller communities, many relatives, especially those pre-1950's are reluctant to give information that would pull "skeletons" out of the closet and yes, they probably gave inaccurate information to Dr. Santee as well as Dr. Santee being extra sensitive to this situation, since I'm sure he got pressure from the families about marrying Jennie, yet sometimes you gotta do what your heart tells you!He and Jennie waited until the danger of childbearing was past, then acted upon their hearts...as one of the other responders to your post said...you must remember that the era he wrote the book in was not the freedom we have now.Dr. Ellis was publishing a book for public eyes and why would he want to "tarnish" his name, something the earlier generations put emphasis on?Did you not catch his emphasis in the book on the "goodness" of the Santees such as on page 5, I quote "In my personal acquaintance with many hundreds of our people I have yet to hear of any Santee ever having been accused of anything more serious that exceeding the speed limit..."and he took extra time to compile a list of how many Santees were in each occupation....all fine upstanding, hard-working people.Did you find even one black sheep in his book?
So, in closing, Bert, I suggest you do not put words in other people's mouths yet I apologize for not making myself clearer in my post so you did not get the idea Dr. Santee was being dishonest because he was a dishonest person....he was just protecting his family name which was more important than gold.Would he want his book to become the "talk of the town" because of the improprieties it contained?"
Since the invention of the internet, many researchers do, as you apparently do according to your post, consider books and other info found as "primary" sources, which is not correct - it is a secondary source and must be confirmed.I was only trying to warn those that are taking the information from Dr. Santee's book that those dates MUST be confirmed.
I hope I have cleared the air regarding this whole uproar and will now get off my soapbox