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The Nims Family
Association is an association of individuals and families
descended from Godfrey Nims of Deerfield, Massachusetts. The
association is registered in Massachusetts as a non-profit, domestic
corporation. Membership in the Nims Family Association
is open to any person descended from, or married to, anyone of the
surname Nims. The purposes of the association are to collect, maintain,
and distribute genealogical and historical data pertaining to
descendants of Godfrey Nims, to preserve and display artifacts of the
family, and to promote other activities relevant to the Nims family.
We actively seek contact with all descendants of Godfrey Nims through four of his children who survived to adulthood: John; Ebenezer; Thankful Nims Munn; and Abigail Nims Rising. We have completed a foundation volume titled "The Nims Family: Seven Generations of Descendants from Godfrey Nims". Our goal now is to continue publishing records in the files of the association. Toward that end, we have purchased computer equipment and are continuing the process of inputting data from the four family branches. These records will be made available to association members for nominal publishing and service costs. Eventually, copies of the files will be placed in the LDS Church Ancestral File and at the Deerfield, Massachusetts Memorial Libraries. All descendants of Godfrey Nims are encouraged to participate in the Nims Family Association and in the gathering of data and artifacts. If you are interested in joining the nearly four hundred families who are already association members, contact our secretary or treasurer at the address below. Dues are $10 per family annually. We welcome your participation and support. Click HERE for further membership information.
May, 2011 Nims Family Project Update
Since the last newsletter, I am still working
through the corrections to the Thankful Nims file that was edited by
Ronald Graham. At this time I am about 75% through the file.
I had reported at that time that I had added an additional 700 names to
the file from what I sent him. As of this date I have over
14,000 names that are descendants and their spouses from Thankful
Munn. This means an addition of over 2,000 names since the
last newsletter. I am also aware that the other children,
that I thought I had completed, need to be revisited, as well as all of
the files on the Ebenezer line. I was just getting started on
John when I went back to revisit the work that I thought had been
completed.
Where are these names coming from? Because of the
availability of new internet information, I have been able to add
totally new family lines from what was a one line entry in the Nims
History. For example: Gad Corse, b. 1723 in Deerfield, moved
to Wilmington, Vermont about 1767. His son Gad Corse, Jr.
also born in Deerfield went on to Waterbury, Vermont in 1800.
No further information was in the Nims records. I found that
his second daughter, Lydia b. 1785 married a Jason Crossett and had a
large family. I have added 427 people to the Crossett line
and most of them have lived and are now living in Washington, Orange,
and Windsor Counties, Vermont.
A daughter to Gad Corse, Lucy born in 1766 in Deerfield, married a Joel
Lamb from Worcester County, Massachusetts. The Lamb family
picked up and became some of the first settlers of Jackson Twp,
Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, about 1815. Their marriage was
recorded in the Nims records but there was no information about their
family. They were married in Windham County, Vermont, and had
11 children. They also had 58 grandchildren, many of whom
served in the Civil War. I have added over 1,100 descendants
for Joel and Lucy Lamb. The Lamb family literally broke
virgin ground in that very northeast part of Pennsylvania.
They cleared timber, built mills, and developed many farms that are in
existence today. Joel Lamb had been a Major in the War of
1812. His biography includes the following information:
Major Joel Lamb, who came in 1815 and took up a large tract of land,
was uncommonly large in stature, commanding appearance and great
physical strength. Blackman’s History says that “He was large
in breadth, measuring two feet across the shoulders and made large
tracks.” On one occasion he walked to Philadelphia (carrying
his shoes in his hands) to see the land agent with whom he contracted
for four hundred acres of land. A person following him was
attracted by the large footprints, and expressed astonishment to a
barroom crowd, asking if anyone had seen a giant. No one
being prepared to answer the question, the Major, who was in the room,
rose in his dignity and thus gave him the desired
information. But if he was rude in exterior, at heart he was
a gentleman. Enterprising and intelligent, he possessed the
ability to command. His physical strength made him “worth
half a dozen common men at a log rising.” And as assistants
were few, his aid was always in demand, and his voice and example would
“nerve others to bring up the heaviest log to its place.”
To date all of the updates to the Thankful Munn line have been from
just the first two children of Thankful Munn and James Corse.
I still have 9 more children to work on from her family. If I
had the time, it would be fascinating to track down all of the Nims
descendants who served in the Civil War. I have tried to
include information of their service records as I locate
them. Those serving in the Civil War were born mostly between
1830 and 1850. While we think of most of them as coming from
New England, the states of Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania contributed
the greatest number to the war effort.
I have been updating records as I complete them in Ancestry.com and the
Family History records of the LDS Church. Because those
internet sites can be searched by name, I have received a number of
inquiries about the families and I have responded with information
about the Nims Family Association. I hope that in the near
future more information will be available to you on the Nims website as
well. My objective is that the family of Godfrey Nims can be
preserved and made available to anyone who is interested in this great
family.
Allan Wiscombe
Dear Nims
‘Cousins’,
Plans
are still in the making for the much-anticipated Nims Family Reunion in
the Montreal area for the autumn of 2012. We will try to have
exact dates in our fall NFA newsletter so that you can have at least a
year’s notice to make your plans. This should be of
particular interest to the Abigail branch of the family but I am sure
there are many from the other three branches who would like to learn
more about Abigail’s descendants and enjoy visiting this area where so
many of them live. This will prove to be an historic event to
get Abigail’s Canadian family and the Nims together!
Many, or perhaps most, of you have traced your connection back to
Godfrey Nims. Some have done extensive research and others
are currently looking for the clear path through the maze.
Lest you become discouraged in your search, let me quote from a close
family relative:
“If families are to grow together rather than fragment with time,
conscious effort must be made to deepen understanding, expand gratitude
and appreciation of the legacy bequeathed. To properly value
this large and worthy family (the Nims, for us) we must see, in
addition to the whole, each part, each individual in the growing chain
of the descendants…we must sense more strongly our relationship to both
whole and part. We need to preserve and expand our awareness
and our sensitivity to our genetic roots and to our familial
inheritance.” (Arthur C. Wiscombe)
The fact that you chose to become a member of the Nims Family
Association tells me that you have awareness and appreciation for your
genetic roots as quoted above. In a lighter vein, the late
comedian Fred Allen said, “I don’t have to look up my family tree
because I know that I’m the sap.”
An unknown author said, “Some family trees have beautiful leaves, and
some have just a bunch of nuts. Remember, it is the nuts that
make the tree worth shaking.”
Good luck in any attempts you make to record any stories, histories, or
data for future descendants, however small or large your contribution
may be. Meanwhile, please consider going to Montreal in 2012.
Until next time,
Betsy Wiscombe, NFA
President
NFA Reunion, 2012
NFA Director Lise Rochette offers a few notes on an association reunion in the Montreal area set for Friday and Saturday, August 24 and 25, 2012. She writes, “Communications with members of Association des Seguin d’Amerique are going extremely well. I will meet with the Historian, President, and some Board members of the Association in May. They offered a historical presentation from their historian for our meeting. We are also considering a joint meeting for the Seguin and Nims families. …This could be a good example of a big French-Canadian family (or wedding) party of the 1700s. Remember that two of the daughters of Abigail Nims married two Seguin brothers. Seguins were present at their weddings, but none of the Nims.”
If you are considering attending Reunion 2012, please be advised that a passport is required.
For more information on applying for a passport, go to:
http://www.usps.com/passport/welcome.htm.
You can also get more information at:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html.
A Contribution from Norris Nims, Sr.
I am fortunate enough to have another note about Norris Nims, Sr., found among family photographs I have used in other publications. Here is a photo of four individuals who were at the unveiling of the Godfrey Nims Memorial Boulder on August 13, 1914, at Deerfield, MA. Shown, left to right: Norris G. Nims (about 3 in this photo), Ruth M. Nims, Charlotte S. Nims, and Estelle Charlotte Nims, my aunt, who was about 18 years old.
NFA is fortunate to have received additional material about this family from the son of Norris G. Nims, Norris G. Nims, Jr. We received in May of this year several photos of family members, including Sidney A. Nims, Marian Maxwell Nims, Charles Asahel Nims, Roger Gurnsey Nims, the Nims Farm in Sullivan, NH, and the Osgood Farmhouse in Sullivan, identified as the oldest standing house in town, although renovations have altered its appearance. In 1907, Sidney A. Nims bought the property as a summer home for himself and his family. For many years the four Nims children, Marian, Charles, Norris, Sr. and Priscilla, went to their Sullivan summer home the day after school ended each June, and returned to the city the day before school opened in the fall, with only a few trips to Keene for a circus parade or a haircut interrupting the summer. Charles Nims, now deceased, remembered idyllic boyhood days there fishing, haying, berrying, hiking and hill-climbing.
Here are two photos from among the many contributed by the Norris G. Nims family. All of the family contributions will be forwarded to the Historical Society of Cheshire County in Keene, New Hampshire.
Sidney Asahel Nims, father of Norris G. Nims, Sr.
Charles, Marian, Priscilla and Norris Nims, siblings and adult
children of Sidney A. Nims, 1950 photo at the Sullivan farm
President:
Elizabeth Wiscombe, P.O. Box 186, Eden, UT 84310-0186
Vice-Pres: Ronald Graham, 5344
Hickory Ridge, Virginia Beach, VA 23455-6680
Treasurer: Nancy
Garreaud, 921 East 100 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Secretary: Sally
Phillips, 104 Mechanic Street, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370-1224
Directors:
George Babineau, MA
Gordon Bean, Toronto, Canada
Judy Graves, MA
Judy
Nelson, MA
David Nims, MA
Patricia Potter, MA
Lise Rochette, Montreal, Canada
Newsletter Editor: Vicki Coutu, MA
Publications Coordinator: Allan Wiscombe, UT
For
further information concerning the Nims Family Association and any of
its activities, please use the "e-mail us" link on the left or contact
us at the following address: Sally Phillips, 104 Mechanic Street,
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370-1224
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