Ouch! I guess my request was worded in a misleading way. These days I always look first on the net because there's an increasing amount of
well-sourced material on it, then go to the library. Having come up empty online on this one, I was looking for a book citation from someone
who's an expert on militias, which I am not. For my purposes (a popular Erie Canal history with a tight deadline), this is a minor point of
inquiry: the canal commissioners got a law passed in 1819 exempting canal laborers from time-consuming militia duty. This seemed to me a good
indication that canal workers were still substantially local, and not fresh immigrants who presumably wouldn't qualify for the privilege of
militia service.
I am constantly astounded by what's on the net. Three examples:
1. On page 268 of a "rare old thing", Knapp, Life of Thomas Eddy (1834), a letter, reproduced in type, from canal promoter Eddy to TJefferson
refers to their mutual friend "J.B.", a recently-hired surveyor on the canal. This certainly had to be an erroneous reference to Isaac Briggs.
In fact, the image of the original letter, on the LOC's American Memory site, shows that Eddy wrote out "Isaac Briggs". Knapp, for no good
reason, decided to "edit" the name into initials and then got one initial wrong.
2. The NYPL copy of a relatively obscure 1969 Natl Pk Svc monograph on Irish immigrant labor on the Erie that I was looking for is missing.
The monograph's author had an unusual name. I did a Google search and came up with one hit, a Californian selling a surfboard, with email
address provided. Could the 1969 monograph writer be the 2001 surfer? It was, and after a few emails and phone calls, the NPS found an archived
copy in storage and sent it to me (for free!).
3. In the first chapter of my 2000 book on NYC water history (researched entirely in libraries and archives), I used a 1971 Scientific American
article on cholera for information about a British cholera pioneer. The author's wife happened to attend one of my speeches in February, after
which I got a note from her husband saying that he was flattered to have been cited but horrified that the information in his article which had
been wrong was now repeated. He directed me to an excellent new UCLA website dedicated to this British doctor, which has the correct
information about his cholera work. My cost-conscious publisher agreed to make the textual corrections for the paperback (out in September)
but, claiming space limitations, refused to add the web citation, supporting that new text, in the endnotes!
Gerard Koeppel
[log in to unmask]
Automatic digest processor wrote:
> There are 3 messages totalling 92 lines in this issue.
>
> Topics of the day:
>
> 1. militia duty (3)
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 10:08:36 -0400
> From: gerard koeppel <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: militia duty
>
> Does anyone know, or know where to find, the requirements for militia
> duty in NYS circa 1820? I've searched all over the net for a list of
> qualifications for service and come up empty.
>
> Gerard Koeppel
> [log in to unmask]
> 212 929 0886
> 15 W 11th St
> NYC 10011
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 09:10:14 -0400
> From: "Maples, Phil" <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: militia duty
>
> This info is probably not on the net!!! Its in a rare old thing called a
> book. Try the "Council of Appointment," (short title) the Daniel Thompkins
> (not spelled right) Papers, If all else fails try me At:
>
> Philip G. Maples
> Curator/Director, BCMA
> 716.922.3521
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: gerard koeppel [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2001 10:09 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: militia duty
>
> Does anyone know, or know where to find, the requirements for militia
> duty in NYS circa 1820? I've searched all over the net for a list of
> qualifications for service and come up empty.
>
> Gerard Koeppel
> [log in to unmask]
> 212 929 0886
> 15 W 11th St
> NYC 10011
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 10:10:35 -0400
> From: Phil Lord <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: militia duty
>
> Try the State Archives or State Library collections. The Internet is handy for some things, but not for basic research on matters like this.
>
> >>> [log in to unmask] 05/30/01 08:50 AM >>>
> Does anyone know, or know where to find, the requirements for militia
> duty in NYS circa 1820? I've searched all over the net for a list of
> qualifications for service and come up empty.
>
> Gerard Koeppel
> [log in to unmask]
> 212 929 0886
> 15 W 11th St
> NYC 10011
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of NYHIST-L Digest - 25 May 2001 to 30 May 2001 (#2001-71)
> **************************************************************
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