Finding Your Family

"Whenever possible, arrange to have your ancestors born in New England. This is the happy hunting ground for genealogists."

Archibald F. Bennett, Secretary for the Genealogical Society of Utah,

1954.

What is New EnglandVital RecordsCensus RecordsCompiled RecordsGenealogical DictionariesLocal HistoriesPeriodicalsIndexesInternet Resources

MainMainee

New New HampshireHampshire

VermontVermont

MassachuseMassachusettstts

ConnecticConnecticutut

Rhode Rhode IslandIsland

(Vital Records all recorded by town clerk in every (Vital Records all recorded by town clerk in every state)state)

ConnecticutBirth, Marriage, Death Records

Marriage Records Recorded as Early as 16401650 Town Clerks responsible for registration of recordsAfter July 1st 1897 all town records sent copy to state.

MaineBirth, Marriage, Death Records

Only five towns have registrations in seventeenth century State did not require Vital Records registration until 1864

Registration did occur back to the seventeenth century

MassachusettsBirth, Marriage, Death Records

No other state in the union has the same depth of vital records

200 out of 364 towns have all the vital records to 1850 published.

After 1841 a copy of town records were sent to the state, so two copies exist. An index exist for 1841 – 1910.

New HampshireBirth Marriage, Death Records

Towns record vital records from start, but are not complete.

Every town early to 1900 has been microfilmed.Less than half the population was listed in vital records

until 1883

Rhode IslandBirth, Marriage, Death

Town Clerks have kept records since 1630’s, more complete after 1700

State wide registration started 1853.

VermontBirth, Marriage, Death

Town Clerks have kept records since 1760.Pre-1820 families recorded in a particular town

listed as a family group record.

Starting in 1790 Federal Population Schedules Start.

Can assist in locating town family lives in.State Census Records

Connecticut1670 Census – A reconstructed census of over 2300

heads of families recorded from tax list and other recordsMaine

1837 Special CensusBangor, Portland, Dennysville, Roxbury are in existence.

MassachusettsCensus was taken 1855 to 1935 only the 1855, and 1865

exist.

State Census RecordsNew Hampshire (Colonial Census)

1776 Lists men 21 years of age declaring position on revolution.

Rhode IslandColonial Census 1747 to 1754, 1774, 1782 (Head of

House, number of person in familyState Census taken every ten years starting in 1865 –

1936.Census given information similar to that of the federal census.

VermontColonial census 1771

Alphabetical list shows names, year, residence, type of record, source.

New England genealogical research has generated a great deal of compiled recordsIncluding family histories, genealogical

dictionaries, local town or county histories.Important place to start your research and

check as you extend your linesUseful resources

Founders of early American families : emigrants from Europe, 1607-1657 Colket, Meredith B. (Meredith Bright), 1912-1985

FHL US/CAN Book 973 W2cm

Family History Archives http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/

HeritageQuest Book CollectionFamily History Library

Provides a brief look at a select group of families, usually the earliest settlers.

The Dictionaries cover about three generations.One exists for most of the New England States.Examples are

A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England by James Savage This is a four volume set.

The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. 3 Volume Set.

Town Histories are a great place to find collected genealogical information, these records profile each family that lived in the town.

Use the census records to locate what town your family lived in.

History of Weymouth Massachusetts, Published 1923

A large selection on New England Genealogy over the years has been published in periodicals.

Three main periodicals for New England areThe New England Historical and Genealogical

RegisterPublished since 1847. Can be found on the New

England Genealogical and Historical Society Website.The Mayflower Descendants

Available on microfilm from the family history library . First 20 Volumes accessible online.

The American GenealogistCheck PERSI for the location

The Genealogist Published Spring 2004

One of the most important things to use when trying to locate your family is indexes. No other area of the United States has more complete ones than New England.

Some of the most popularIndex to American Genealogies (5th ed. Albany: Joel

Munsell's Sons, 1908. Reprint, Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1967)This is a surname index of virtually every source

published before 1900.New England Marriages Prior to 1700

This is a list of virtually every marriage prior to 1700, It also gives the source the information came from.

Some of the most popularThe Greenlaw index of the New England

Historical Genealogical SocietyStart where Index to American genealogies stops.

This index goes to the 1940’sAmerican Genealogical – Biographical Index

Indexes every in name in close to 800 family histories, 50 other genealogical books.

Index does include most revolutionary sources.International Genealogical Index (IGI)

Includes birth and marriages for New England. Most entries can be traced back to original source.

New England Historical and Genealogical Societywww.newenglandancestors.org $This is a subscription Site

Ancestry (www.ancestry.com) $USGenWeb (www.usgenweb.org)FamilySearch Wiki (wiki.familiysearch.org)Heritagequestonline (www.heritagequestonline)

$Record Search (pilot.familysearch.org)Historic Book Collection (familysearch.org)FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org)