Sometimes I cheat in genealogy and things work out great.

In a genealogy book about the Crosby family I read that my 8th great-grandfather John Crosby (1670-1714) owned land in Harwich, MA on Cape Cod that was adjacent to our Hopkins and Bangs families.   I resolved to learn more about this land.  Unfortunately I had had little time to research deeds on my visit to Cape Cod in October 2015.

So before the trip I went online.  First I learned that Harwich originally cut south to north across the width of Cape Cod and in 1803 the north parish became Brewster. Since grandpa John was buried in Brewster I figured odds were good his land was in the north parish.

Then I searched “Crosby and Brewster” on Google and the first hit was the Crosby Mansion.  Promising, but that was built by a Crosby in the 1800’s so a century after John’s death. However the address of the mansion was on Crosby Lane!  That discovery was even more promising.

On our 1-day drive around the area, Jenn and I visited Crosby Lane and at the end of the road was a parking area with access to Crosby Landing and a lovely beach that seems to go on forever.  That is the beach featured on my blog’s header.

None of my quickie research proves that this was exactly my ancestor’s land and his beach.  I know I will need to do the deed research to know exactly what land he owned.  However, the first time I saw the town name Brewster on a map I felt connected to it and the connection grew stronger in 2014 when we visited the the Old Burying Ground and grandpa John’s grave.  So I feel certain that my Crosby ancestors walked nearby if not on this same beach over 300 years ago!