On-line and perambulatory research
Bob's genealogy research has been on-line as well as perambulatory. He has the good fortune to be living in New England within mere miles of towns founded by his ancestors. And he lives close to graveyards where the bones of those ancestors have lain in shady repose for hundreds of years.
There is nothing better Bob likes than "kicking the gravestones and seeing what comes out", he says. (I am pretty sure he means that figuratively!) And having acquired an enormous horde of genealogical material, Bob and his family decided to create a genealogy video.
The Albee line was an easy place to start. Following one common name certainly makes things easy - at least in the early going. (Although, as the wise old owls well know, and as Bob discovered, one family name is hardly ever spelled the same way all down the line.)
Showcasing genealogy
Genealogy video is an increasingly popular way to showcase ancestry and genealogy research. Making a documentary about what those researches have turned up is certainly a more engaging way to present family history - as Bob discovered when he premiered his genealogy video over the holidays late last year.
Bob's Albee ancestors moved to Maine in the third American generation. That farm was on Indian land. The Albees had had run-ins with Indians back in Mendon in Massachusetts. In Maine, there would be more Indian trouble – this time with the Abenaki Indians.
Bob grew up a long way from those early farms and those early threats. His manse was a 3 story apartment house on crowded Mansur Street, Jamaica Plains. His grandparents had the top floor, and Bob's family the middle. No Indians, but Bob grew up with a stronger sense of his family history than most, which may have contributed to his interest in genealogy and all those ancestors.
A distinguished career
Bob worked during his school years – selling newspapers, pulling sodas, and then selling suits in an up-market clothing store called Tweeds. His high school years were also the Cold War years for the nation and he remembers well the Cold War and the very real fear of nuclear attack.
He covers also covers those years, as well as his later career, in the genealogy video (Genealogy video is taking genealogy to a whole knew level).
Bob's career took him to City Hall where he became involved in public works. His interest in local history was stoked by those years working with the City and he became intimately acquainted with nearly every city block and every street. Bob became City Engineer in 1983 at the age of 39 – the second youngest in history.
His biggest challenge came with Boston's Central Artery Project in 1985 which would elevate his career to new heights of success - and scrutiny. The job was to bury Boston's elevated central artery. Built to much fanfare in the 1950s, it had become universally reviled.
For the next 14 years he immersed himself in all the intricacies of the central artery project and the building of the new airport tunnel. It was the biggest ever urban area engineering project ever in the nation's history.
One in a million
Bob Albee is one in a million in more sense than one. His career, including his service with the American Public Works Association, has been truly exceptional and marked him as one of the country's greatest public works engineers.
And his genealogy work means he is numbered among the many millions of fellow Americans who have used the modern tools, as well as old fashioned shoe leather, to find out about and honor their ancestors. How many Americans? It's an open question just how popular genealogy really is.
By creating a genealogy video, Bob has taken his place among the giants of his very illustrious family tree. Not only because of his contribution to the City of Boston, but by his honoring of those who have gone before and helping ensure that they stay alive in the hearts and minds of succeeding generations. A decoration on a family tree if ever there was one.
Thank you Bob.
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