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OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE: PROCEEDINGS                 153

 

ing with the connections I must leave behind me, but the society of our

friends but poorly compensates for the want of a subsistence. We have a

large circle of little ones dependent on us, and I know of no persuit that

would give me more pleasure than that of providing an easy Liveing for

them."

Emigration has ever played its part in the making of history and in

every land since Moses led his trusting band to the land of "milk and

honey," there has been a lure that beckons men to fields afar, for homes

must be established and little mouths fed, and there must be weaving and

spinning. Yes, a nation is made up of the hearts of mothers, the wisdom

of fathers, and the joyous laughter of children. "Within the mirrors of

their children's radiant eyes I see envisioned all the hopes and fears of men

and women, who 'neath alien skies transmuted wilderness to paradise."

 

The last speaker at this session was Professor Francis Phelps

Weisenburger of the Department of History of the Ohio State

University.

 

THE PERSONAL ELEMENT IN HISTORY

By FRANCIS P. WEISENBURGER

 

My subject today is very similar in its wording to that taken a few

years ago by Professor Edward M. Hulme of Stanford University, Cali-

fornia, in his presidential address before the Pacific Coast Branch of the

American Historical Association. At that time he spoke on the topic,

"The Personal Equation in History."¹ The matter which he discussed,

however, was a very different one from that which I have in view in com-

menting upon "The Personal Element in History." Professor Hulme had

in mind of course the extent to which the writer of history, however objec-

tive his intentions, is necessarily influenced in his selection of data and

in his interpretation of events by his own personal background. Race,

color, ancestry, schooling, economic circumstances, and many other factors

are indeed often very significant in determining the viewpoint expressed by

even the most unbiased of historical writers. Professor Hulme flatly de-

clared that "perfect detachment" among historians is impossible, is in

fact "a myth." He went on to express the view that history of all kinds

is "colored" by the personal equation, sometimes indeed rather slightly

but at other times very deeply. Circumstances of time and place, he said,

are important in determining the trend of historical interpretation, and the

personal background of the author is apt to be of great significance. His-

torians at best, he said, are not machines on the one hand or angels on

 

Pacific Historical Review (Glendale, Calif.), II (1933/34), 129ff.

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154     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

the other, but very human individuals trying in varying degree to rise

above their own personal prejudices and predilections.  Hence, wholly

objective history, he said, is probably as impossible as objective art and

possibly no more desirable.

Many historians would agree that objective history is difficult to pro-

duce and that an insistence upon a thorough detachment is a perfection not

to be attained in a world of human limitations. But many would hold

tenaciously to the view that such an objectivity must be devoutly sought

in every possible way as the only worthy goal of historical effort.

My principal purpose today, however, is not to deal with "The Per-

sonal Equation in History," with the extent to which the writer of his-

tory may succeed in transcending the personal equation in presenting a

clear and complete picture of the past. Rather my hope is to present

rather briefly my views as to the importance of personality in the making,

not the recording or the explaining of history. In other words the inten-

tion is to make some observations on the importance of individuals as

participators in the molding of past events rather than as chroniclers and

interpreters of the past.

In presenting historical material, every historical writer or teacher

has been confronted with the problem of the use of the chronological

method on the one hand, or the topical on the other and has invariably

arrived at some degree of compromise. But he has also been confronted

with the question of emphasis in the presentation of his material. As

Professor Charles A. Beard has pointed out, written history is, in a sense,

"an act of faith."² Accordingly, the faith which the historical writer

places in the various possible approaches will obviously color his interpre-

tations of past events.

Historians have differed of course as to the number of such ap-

proaches that they have deemed significant. Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes, the

rather iconoclastic historical writer, but one whose comments are often

very thought-provoking, published a year and a half ago a volume entitled,

A History of Historical Writing.³ In it he mentioned seven usual avenues

of approach to history. These, with some changes in the order of their

presentation, we may consider with brief comments.

One is the geographical, a factor which has, at least at times, been

of interest to the historical writer since the days of the Greek physician

and author, Hippocrates, who pointed out the effects of climate upon dis-

ease. In recent years few interpreters of this school have been so in-

fluential as Ellsworth Huntington, who has written such books as Civiliza-

tion and Climate 4 and with Sumner W. Cushing, Principles of Human

Geography.⁵ Perhaps we should also mention Ellen Churchill Semple,

who died in 1932, the author of American History and Its Geographic Con-

2 The American Historical Review (New York), XXXIX (1933/34), 219-31.

3 (Norman, Oklahoma, 1937).

4 (New Haven, 1915).

5 (New York, 1920).

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OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE: PROCEEDINGS                155

 

ditions.⁶ Also of interest to the well-informed student of American his-

tory are the writings of Frederick Jackson Turner, who showed the way

in which certain geographical regions have, through their inter-develop-

ment, diversified and enriched the American nation. But the importance

of the geographical element in history need not be taken upon the word

of the historian. Its importance is so evident that all who run may see

the evidences of its significance.  Even today when modern inventions

have eliminated certain limitations of space, the American people are con-

stantly aware of the importance of the three thousand mile geographical

distance which separates them from the immediate danger of threatened

borders and devastating air raids. Great Britain, on the other hand, while

appreciative of the value of the English Channel as sort of a moat sepa-

rating her from the direct threats of continental neighbors realizes that

geographically her "splendid isolation" is gone forever.

A second approach to history is the sociological. This avenue en-

deavors to utilize an analysis of the origin and activities of social groups

in arriving at an interpretation of the past. Many students of southern

history in the United States have found this method definitely helpful. In

the ante-bellum South some writers have grouped the population of the

region below the Mason-Dixon line into a number of categories, includ-

ing the planting aristocracy; the professional classes who were dependent

upon their patronage; the more or less prosperous yeoman farmers; the

poor Georgia "crackers," Alabama "hill-billies," etc.; and finally the

negro slaves.

Likewise utilizing the sociological approach, many students have found

in the varying contributions of immigrant groups, such as the Scotch-

Irish, the Pennsylvania "Dutch," the Swedes, the Germans, the Greeks,

the Italians, the Poles, and many others a key to a fuller understanding

of American life.

A third approach is the scientific and technological. This lays great

stress upon an appraisal of the amount of scientific knowledge possessed

at a given time and the extent to which inventive genius has adapted it

to the needs of the common life. Those who emphasize this factor are

persuaded that tremendous national resources may be of little significance

to history when technical knowledge is such that they are unexploited and

unused for practical purposes.

A fourth approach is the much discussed economic interpretation of

history. Karl Marx of course gave the classic expression to this view,

and his position has been followed, often less dogmatically, by many Euro-

pean and American historians.  Such persons believe that economic re-

sources and institutions are of primary significance in determining the

trend of social development and cultural change. Among such writers we

find Henri See, author of The Economic Interpretation of History.7

6 (Boston and New York, 1903).

7 American edition (New York, 1929).

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156    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

A fifth approach has sometimes been called the spiritual interpreta-

tion. Over twenty years ago Shailer Mathews, long dean of University

of Chicago Divinity School, wrote a volume called The Spiritual Interpre-

tation of History.⁸ Since that time there have been others who have sought

to discover certain spiritual dynamics by which men have moved forward

toward a freer and fuller life.

A sixth approach, a relatively new one, is the "collective psycholog-

ical." This is an attempt to bring together into a synthesis the various

factors, not to be found in a single category, which determine the trends

of the life of an era. Under this view, science, technology, economic

institutions, all are important in influencing social, political, and religious

standards, and thus a dominant pattern for the civilization of the period

is created.

It should be mentioned in passing that Dr. Barnes dismisses in rather

cavalier fashion one approach which long has been followed by a large

portion of historians, the political. Edward Augustus Freeman, the noted

nineteenth century historian of England, who described history as "past

politics," has been the most celebrated exponent of this tendency. Indeed

the education of each one of us present today has been definitely affected

by this view. Under this conception the reigns of kings and dynasties

and the vicissitudes of parties and political organizations are of preeminent

importance in analyzing the collective life of a nation. Accordingly, how

many of us have learned to name in order the kings of England and the

Presidents of the United States! Intimately associated with this political

approach is that which emphasizes the significance of the military and

naval factors in national life. The late Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan,

who wrote such volumes as Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-

17839 and Sea Power in Its Relation to the War of 1812,10 was undoubtedly

the most important writer in this particular field of interpretation.

Those who minimize the value of the political approach to history

will perhaps assert that their own lives have been more influenced by the

stock quotations for U. S. Steel or General Electric at the time they entered

college than by the fact that the Democrats or Republicans happened to

be in control of Congress at that period. Others will retort of course

that the value of U. S. Steel or almost any other stock at a given time

is definitely affected by the friendly or unfriendly attitude toward business

manifested by the political party that is in power.

However that may be, Dr. Barnes does not omit from his list of

present-day approaches to historical interpretation the personal element,

the one to which we are to direct our principal attention today.

Among historical writers of by-gone generations, those who have

been best known for their stressing of the personal element in history are

8 (Cambridge, Mass., 1916).

9 (Boston, 1890).

10 (Boston, 1905), 2v.

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OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE: PROCEEDINGS                  157

 

Thomas Carlyle and James Anthony Froude. To these British historians,

history was in essence a kind of collective biography. In other words,

the story of human life was to them little more than "the lengthened

shadow" of the great men of all times. The viewpoint of such historians

was essentially aristocratic. Carlyle interpreted history in terms of the

dramatic careers of its great personalities. Hence his great literary achieve-

ments, Life and Letters of Oliver Cromwe,ll   The History of Friedrich

the Second Called Frederick the Great,12 and the French Revolution13 are

distinguished especially for their vivid portrayal of the glittering per-

sonalities who were associated with these eras. Though abler as an in-

terpreter and less prejudiced than his well-known predecessor, Froude em-

ployed much the same method as Carlyle, the aggrandizement of the

masterful character. Hence, in his History of England from the Fall of

Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth14 we find striking portrayals of such

individuals as Henry VIII and John Knox.

In theory, Carlyle early believed in stressing the part played by all

personalities--great and small--in the influencing of human affairs. Actually

his enthusiasm for the powerful figures whose careers he portrayed be-

came so great as to relegate the masses of mankind to absorption in the

herd of lesser folk or to membership in an undisciplined mob, as was

his conception of the part played by the rank and file of Frenchmen in

the French Revolution.15

For some decades there has been a definite tendency, in analyzing

the affairs of mankind, to minimize the importance of the single individual.

The universe has seemed so large that the influence of one individual has

often appeared to be so infinitesimal as to be wholly inconsequential. There-

fore, a kind of "astronomical intimidation" has brought a feeling of de-

featism to more than one modern man. The resulting philosophy of many

has been characterized by a spirit of cynicism which has been very little

different from the preacher of old who cried out, "Vanity of vanities,

all is vanity."

It has not been the idea alone of the immensity of the universe, how-

ever, that has sometimes caused the personal element in the affairs of the

world to seem trivial indeed. There has also been the feeling that economic

forces, social tendencies, and political trends, have controlled the affairs

of men and that individuals have functioned much like little bubbles rising

to the top of a mighty stream.

Our purpose at this time is not to argue anew the age-long question

as to whether man is the master of his fate and the captain of his soul

or even to discuss in non-theological terms the old controversy between

11 (New York, 1845), 2v.

12 (London, 1858-1865), 6v.

13 (London, 1837), 3v.

14 (London, 1856-1870), 12v.

15 B. H. Lehman, Carlyle's Theory of the Hero (Durham, 1928), 56-61.

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158     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

free will and predestination. It is true, nevertheless, that as we look over

the world today it may seem indeed that in country after country the

average single individual is of little consequence. The philosophy of Nazi

Germany and of other totalitarian states in truth embodies the view that

the state is all important and that the individual as such is of little or no

consequence except as he contributes to the glorification of the nation.

Yet, the dictator states themselves have emphasized--perhaps after the

manner of a Carlyle--the personal element in history. One certainly can-

not disparage the influence of personality in history at a time when from

month to month a nervous world awaits with bated breath the latest radio

utterances of an Adolph Hitler, or to a much lesser extent, the pronounce-

ments of a Mussolini or a Franco or a Chamberlain.

One certainly cannot disparage the influence of personality in history,

moreover, as one reviews the happenings in America during the last six

years and calmly appraises the great importance--for good or evil--of

the activities of Franklin D. Roosevelt in both domestic and foreign affairs.

On the other hand, it must be pointed out that, even in the case of

the most powerful individual, favorable circumstances have contributed to,

indeed made possible, the outstanding influence of such a personality. The

times apparently were ripe in 1829, for the rise to great power of such

a man as Andrew Jackson, and the post-World War period for the emer-

gence of a Mussolini. The extent to which really creative effort can be

attributed to the masterful individual and the extent to which the accom-

plishments of such a person are the results of irresistible movements

separable from his leadership are problems of great difficulty for the

biographer and historian.16

It is not the purpose of this paper to do any special pleading for the

idea of the importance of the personal element in history. Most historians

probably agree that so many factors enter into any well-rounded interpre-

tation of the past that no single approach is wholly adequate. Clearly,

however, the element of personality is one factor which cannot safely be

ignored in any satisfactory interpretation of history. Hence, it is the duty

of students of the past to obtain as clear a view as possible of the part

played by individuals in the making of the world what it is today.

The importance of the personal element in history has been recog-

nized in recent years in the United States in many ways. Not incon-

spicuous among these has been the preparation and publication in twenty

large volumes (with an additional index volume) of the monumental

Dictionary of American Biography. These volumes, edited by Allen John-

son and Dumas Malone, and published over the period from 1928 to 1936,

contain detailed biographical sketches of 13,633 prominent Americans of

every generation (although no living persons are included). As many as

2,243 different authors, generally specialists in the period and field in which

16 Edward P. Cheyney, Law in History and Other Essays (New York, 1927), 163-4.

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OHIO HISTORY CONFERENCE: PROCEEDINGS                 159

 

the subject lived and worked contributed to this colossal undertaking.

Some of the biographical sketches are in themselves fairly extensive, no

less than seventy-six of them extending to the length of five thousand words

or more. In some cases, moreover, these biographical contributions con-

stitute probably the best characterizations to be found anywhere in print,

as in the instances of Thomas Jefferson and Woodrow Wilson.17 In addi-

tion, thousands of characters who contributed significantly to American

life in all of its phases--social, political, economic, cultural, and religious--

have been rescued from some degree of oblivion.

In many instances in preparing these biographical sketches, the authors

communicated with, by letter or personally interviewed relatives and friends

of the individual whose life story was to be told. Thus, often information

which would soon have vanished, to some extent at least, was preserved

for future reference.

In the composing of a number of sketches for these volumes I myself

found that I had some measure of experience of this kind. For example,

in the case of one prominent individual, once a United States Senator,

whose middle initial was B., I found no indication of the name for which

this stood. I searched older biographical dictionaries and county and local

histories; I wrote fruitlessly to an historical society of which the Senator

had been a patron, to the surviving widow of one of his grandchildren,

and to the custodian of the records of Hamilton College at Clinton, New

York, from which he had been graduated. Finally through the mediation of

the chairman of the board of the Cleveland Plain Dealer who has since

died, information was obtained from a surviving granddaughter, who

reported that her prominent ancestor had been christened without a middle

name. Arriving at the age of maturity he had become definitely conscious

of the lack of a middle initial and had adopted the letter B. because he

thought that it blended harmoniously with the rest of his name. Thus,

the middle initial signified just that and nothing more.

In another case I found that a distinguished Congressman of bygone

days had, according to various newspaper accounts in his home city, left

one son and one daughter. But other papers stated that he was survived

by a son and two daughters. Finally, after writing numerous letters and

securing no satisfactory answer to my query, I got in touch with the

clergyman who had officiated at the Congressman's funeral. This reverend

gentleman ascertained for me that there had been one son and one daughter

and a granddaughter who had been raised as a child of the family. Thus,

a very easily explained discrepancy in the newspaper accounts was cleared up.

For the student of American biography and genealogy these twenty

volumes of the Dictionary of American Biography constitute a rich mine

of source material. Here, for example, are somewhat extensive accounts

17 Review by Arthur M. Schlesinger in American Historical Review, XLII

(1936/37), 769 ff.

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160     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

of no less than forty-two persons by the surname of Adams; twenty-one

by that of Abbot or Abbott; nineteen by that of Baker; sixteen by that of

Anderson; sixteen by that of Bradford; fifteen by that of Alexander;

fifteen by that of Ames; and fifteen by that of Bell. For further pur-

poses of illustration, if we turn to the end of the alphabet, we find that

there, too, numerous surnames are represented a considerable number of

times: Williams, fifty-seven times; Whyte, thirty-eight times; Wilson and

Willson, thirty-six times; Wood and Woods, thirty-five times; Ward,

thirty-two times; Walker, thirty times; and Wright, thirty times.¹⁸

Among recent writers in the field of American history perhaps none

has emphasized the personal element more ably than Professor Allan

Nevins, of Columbia University, who has written numerous biographies

of leading figures in the American life of bygone generations. Utilizing

something of the Carlyle method but with the restraint of scientific schol-

arship, Nevins in his extensive biography of Grover Cleveland, of which

the sub-title is A Study in Courage,19 has included practically a history of

the national administration during the period of Cleveland's Presidencies.

In his volume dealing with the careers of Peter Cooper and Abram S.

Hewitt20 we find much material on the very basis of business invention,

and philanthropy in New York during the latter part of the nineteenth

century; and in his life of Hamilton Fish,21 secretary of state under Ulysses

S. Grant, we find as clear a pen-portrait of Grant and other notables and

as definite an analysis of the political trends of that period as are available

in print.

It is interesting to note that the importance of the personal element

in history has made such an appeal to some educational leaders that at a

number of American colleges, notably Dartmouth, courses are given in

American biography. At the above-mentioned institution in New Hamp-

shire, one course is given on American Political Biography, 1776-1865 and

another on the same subject, 1865-1935.22

Since this session is a joint session of an historical society and a

genealogical society, perhaps it is appropriate for us to point out the inti-

mate relationship between biography and history on the one hand and

genealogy on the other. Scholars in various fields of course have never

agreed as to the extent to which heredity or environment has been the

determining factor in the molding of personality. Doubtless both are im-

portant; hence any student of the personal element in history is much

interested in the type of forebears from whom an individual is descended

and the kind of interests which these forebears cherished and which helped

to determine the personality of the younger members of the family.

18 From  reviews by Arthur M. Schlesinger, ibid., XXXV (1929/30), 119ff;

XLII, 769ff.

19 (New York, 1932).

24 Abram S. Hewitt: with Some Account of Peter Cooper (New York, 1935).

21 (New York, 1936).

22 Dartmouth College Bulletin (Hanover, N. H.), Third Ser., (1935/36), 125.

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Apparently the able editors of the Dictionary of American Biography

held this in mind when they insisted that, wherever possible, contributors

should give exact and not too limited data concerning the immediate ances-

tors of the individual whose life-story was being told. Time and time

again, they were not content with the amount of material of this kind

originally submitted by the contributors, hence they often insisted upon a

more extended analysis of the family background.

The editors of this well-known biographical dictionary have not been

alone in such an emphasis. We note the same interest in ancestry among

the numerous biographers of George Washington, who have taken great

pains to trace the family, generation by generation, to the Washingtons of

Sulgrave, Northampton, England.

In the case of Abraham Lincoln--to use another of the standard

examples in American history--although the martyred President himself

could trace his ancestry back no farther than to certain forebears who

had lived in Berks County, Pennsylvania, scholars have interested them-

selves in the subject and have followed the line, step by step, as far back

as Samuel Lincoln, who in 1637 settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, having

come from an English community of the same name. On the side of

Lincoln's mother there has been much misinformation, much supposition,

and much heated controversy.²³ Apparently the mother, Nancy Hanks Lin-

coln, was the illegitimate child of Lucy Hanks, hence there has been con-

siderable conjecture as to Lincoln's maternal grandfather and to the extent

to which a possibly superior personality in that instance may have trans-

mitted to Lincoln certain elements of strength. In connection with the

Hanks line, moreover, one writer, Rev. William E. Barton (father of the

present New York Congressman, Bruce Barton) has conjectured that

Lincoln's ancestry is linked with the family of Robert E. Lee.²⁴ Barton's

tireless interest in such phases of Lincoln's background was so great that

he contributed to the discussion a number of volumes including (in addition

to The Lineage of Lincoln) The Paternity of Abraham Lincoln--Was He

the Son of Thomas Lincoln: An Essay on the Chastity of Nancy Hanks.25

In the case of Woodrow Wilson, his biographers have placed much

stress upon the importance of his Scotch-Irish ancestry in shaping his

career. Thus, William Allen White, the well-known Kansas journalist,

in his biography of Wilson has a whole chapter devoted to the significance

of Wilson's ancestry. Entitled the "Miracle of Heredity," this chapter

suggests that the War President acquired from his Wilson ancestry much

of his ability as an active leader in public affairs and from his Woodrow

forebears his definite interest in theoretical ideals.²⁶ Similarly, Ray Stan-

23 See bibliographical note by James G. Randall in Dictionary of American

Biography (New York, 1928-1937), XI, 258-9.

24 See chapter, "Lincoln Was a Lee," in The Lineage of Lincoln (Indianapolis,

1929), 196-211.

25 (New York, 1920).

26 (Boston and New York, 1924), 8-27.

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162     OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

nard Baker, in his many-volume Life and Letters of Woodrow Wilson has

devoted twenty-seven pages to a discussion of the Wilson and Woodrow

families as important factors in determining the destiny of their distin-

guished descendant.27 Incidentally, I have used some private letters and

other materials relating to Wilson's ancestry that had not been previously

utilized by the biographers of the World War President. These previously

unexploited sources have been the basis for an article, "The Middle Western

Antecedents of Woodrow Wilson," which I presented in the Mississippi

Valley Historical Review for December, 1936.28 In this connection it is

interesting to know how Woodrow Wilson's grandfather, James Wilson, a

Steubenville editor and politician, could insist, in writing to a friend that

they owed a definite responsibility to him. In one letter he frankly stated:

"I have so many boys I do not know what to do with them. I cannot

afford to set them up in any business and my friends must take care of

them."  In another communication he expressed his adherence to "the

notion (not altogether, perhaps, a Yankee notion) than when a man has

friends he ought to use them." On one occasion when insisting upon cer-

tain patronage for his newspaper he flatly declared, "This, I think, so far

as I am concerned I have a right to insist upon and have a right to get mad

if not done. I say nothing about merits, services to the people and all

that." 29 Although Woodrow Wilson was born in Virginia and spent his

youth in the deeper South, his immediate forebears were Ohioans, and it

will always be a matter of conjecture as to how much middle-western

influences had a bearing upon the molding of his personality.

Many writers in American history and biography have indeed stressed

the significance of ancestry in its effect upon the careers of important

Americans. Thus, William Allen White, the Emporia (Kansas) editor

whom we have previously mentioned, in his interesting recent biography

of Calvin Coolidge, significantly entitled A Puritan in Babylon, has care-

fully indicated the influence of Coolidge's Vermont ancestry on the forming

of the rather enigmatical character of the twenty-ninth President of the

United States.³⁰

Furthermore the significance of family associations in relation to

American biography has recently been stressed by such writers as James

Truslow Adams in his articulated study of numerous prominent Adamses

in The Adams Family 31 and by Burton J. Hendrick in his similar account

of The Lees of Virginia.32

In conclusion, may it be suggested that the student of genealogy can

find in the biographical sketches of many of these famous men considerable

insight into some of the possibilities of genealogical research. Over twenty-

27 Woodrow Wilson: Life and Letters (Garden City, 1927), I, Youth.

28 Vol. XXIII, 375-90.

29 Ibid., 382-3.

30 (New York, 1938).

31 (Boston, 1930).

32 (Boston, 1935).

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five years ago, Charles K. Bolton, librarian of the Boston Athenaeum, in

an address on "Genealogy and History" before the American Historical

Association assembled in Boston (1912) showed how, as he said, "the

vicissitudes of families conceal the very sources of political and economic

history." He urged, accordingly, that genealogists, in their researches

concern themselves not merely with the names, births, marriages and deaths

of various members of the families involved, but with the environment,

activities, and existing states of culture. By doing this, the genealogist

may combine with his interest in vital statistics an appreciation of the part,

however small, played by the individuals whose records are being traced,

in the life of the day in which they lived.33 By doing this, moreover, the

genealogist may understand, as never before, the importance of the "Per-

sonal Element in History."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

33 American Historical Review, XVIII (1912/13), 467.

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