Treat Yourself to Family History

Gary Treat
  • 5.0 (1)
  • History

We are tellings stories about our ancestors from the history, paper trails, court rolls, and oddball records they left behind. After spending decades digging through libraries, archives, courthouse, cemeteries, and databases, the spark for this podcast came while pulling together research for a family heritage trip with relatives. Reading between the lines of old deeds, probate cases, and forgotten documents can bring history alive in a surprising way. So come on in and "Treat Yourself to Family History"... pun definitely intended.

Episodes

  1. 3d ago

    Why the Treats Risked Everything

    Forging Connecticut: The Richard Treat Family (Episode 3) - Why the Treats Risked Everything What makes an established landholder pack up his entire household and sail straight into the unknown? Sometime around 1638, that’s exactly what Richard and Alice Treat did, leaving their Somerset farm behind with nine children in tow. Genealogists always look for that one tidy record giving a reason, but finding an explicit answer was off the table here. The solution? Listen in as we explore the possible answers.

    Why the Treats Risked Everything

  2. Aug 25

    Why the Youngest Son Inherited Everything

    Forging Connecticut: The Richard Treat Family (Episode 2) - Why the Youngest Son Inherited Everything When we trace Richard Treat back to 16th-century Somerset, England, surviving manor records reveal a surprising discovery: he inherited an entire working estate of farmland and cottages despite being a younger son. Why would an established yeoman family bypass the eldest son to hand the main holding to the youngest? The answer lies locked away in the ancient court rolls of the Manor of Taunton Deane, where local customs turned traditional English inheritance on its head.

    Why the Youngest Son Inherited Everything

  3. Aug 22

    Arriving Late and Building Influence

    Forging Connecticut: The Richard Treat Family (Episode 1) - Arriving Late and Building Influence When Richard Treat and his wife Alice Gaylord arrived on the edge of Wethersfield, Connecticut, around 1639, they were five years behind the town's original founders. The prime riverfront land was mostly claimed, so how does a late-arriving family break into a closed colonial community? By digging into 17th-century parish registers, land deeds, and court rolls, we track how Richard and Alice turned a large family and raw agricultural grit into serious local influence. Join us as we look between the lines of these early records to piece together how this immigrant family secured a foothold on the colonial frontier.

    Arriving Late and Building Influence
  • 3 Episodes

About

We are tellings stories about our ancestors from the history, paper trails, court rolls, and oddball records they left behind. After spending decades digging through libraries, archives, courthouse, cemeteries, and databases, the spark for this podcast came while pulling together research for a family heritage trip with relatives. Reading between the lines of old deeds, probate cases, and forgotten documents can bring history alive in a surprising way. So come on in and "Treat Yourself to Family History"... pun definitely intended.

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