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Tibbetts Memorial Lecture
The annual Tibbetts Memorial Lecture is named in honor of Charles Wesley Tibbetts, first Editor and Publisher of The New Hampshire Genealogical Record.
Charles Wesley9 Tibbetts, son of Orland Harriman8
(George7, Ephraim6, Stephen5, Aaron4, Ephraim3,
Jeremiah2, Henry1) and Lydia Ann (Clark) Tibbetts, was was born in
Lebanon, Maine, 5 July 1846, the first of two children born seventeen years apart. He
studied law in East Lebanon and in the law office of William J. Copeland of Somersworth,
New Hampshire, and was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1873.
He married in Lebanon, New Hampshire, 4 June 1870 Hannah Chandler Shapleigh, who was four
years his junior. An active genealogist in her own right, she was historian of the
Shapleigh Family Association and author of The Descendants of Alexander Shapleigh the
Immigrant.
Among his genealogical credits, Charles Tibbetts was president of the Tibbetts Family
Association. In the six years in which he was Editor of The New Hampshire
Genealogical Record, Charles Tibbetts brought thousands of vital records
from churches, town records and private records into the hands of his subscribers. When at
last financial pressures forced him to discontinue The New Hampshire
Genealogical Record, this publication stood for the better part of a century
as the unchallenged best New Hampshire had to offer.
With the revival of The New Hampshire Genealogical Record an
unsuccessful attempt was made to locate the full manuscript collection of Charles Wesley
Tibbetts. It was not found at the Dover Public Library in Dover, New Hampshire, where
Tibbetts had lived for much of his life. It was particularly hoped that the unfinished
articles cut off by the Record’s abrupt demise would be
found, but if they survive, they have not come to light.
Tibbetts devoted a significant portion of his life and his personal fortune to furthering
New Hampshire genealogical scholarship. We are honored to acknowledge his early
contributions by giving his name to a lecture series by eminent genealogists treating New
Hampshire genealogical topics.
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Last modified: 28 March 2003