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| The Plantation Community Lesson Three KEEPING THE RECORD
READ AND DISCUSSToday, city and county offices keep records of new births. But that didn't happen in the 1700s. That's why we're excited to have George Mason's hand-written history of his family. He put this history, called a family record, in a very safe place -- inside his family's Bible. Mason's family record looks strange to us. Some of the spelling and punctuation is different than ours today. Some words are capitalized for no reason at all and others that should be capitalized are not. This was accepted in Mason's time, since rules for spelling and grammar were not yet perfected. Some letters in the family record appear in [ ]'s. This is because the pages of the Bible are torn in places and we had to guess what was written there. ACTIVITYUse the Mason family record to answer the questions. 1. What range of years is covered in the Mason family history? From ______ to ______ 2. What was the age difference between George Mason and his wife, Ann? ______ years 3. How many children did George and Ann Mason raise? ______ 4. How many sons did the Masons raise? ______ How many daughters did they raise? ______ 5. Due to disease, it was common for some children in every family to die. How many children died in the Mason family? ______ 6. Sometimes, when a child died in the 1700s, a parent gave another child the same name. What name was used twice by the Masons? __________________ 7. Give the range of years when Ann Mason gave birth. From ______ to ______ Give the average number of years between births. (Count any time under one year as one year.) ______ 8. How old was Ann Mason when she died? ______ 9. After Ann's death, George Mason waited ______ years until he married again. What was the name of his second wife? ______________________ 10. The family Bible was published in 1759. However, there are four entries for births that took place before 1759. How can you explain this? ___________________________________________________ MOREGather information on your own family, including grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Find out all the dates you think are important, then put this information into the form of a family tree. Decorate your family tree and display it in the classroom. |
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Gunston Hall Plantation
Mason Neck, Virginia 22079
703.550.9220
703.550.9480 fax
Email: Historic@GunstonHall.org
Public Hours: 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day
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