Author Archive
We are happy to announce that the Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1640 is now available! This database contains 5,691 names, 5,740 records, and 464 pages.
The Great Migration Study Project is a comprehensive genealogical and biographical accounts of the twenty thousand English men, women, and children who settled in New England between 1620 and 1640. The project’s published works, containing thousands of sketches, are necessary resources for any genealogist, historian, or descendant with early New England interests and connections. The Great Migration Study Project was directed by Robert Charles Anderson, FASG, from 1988 to 2025.
This update is made possible by of our long-time volunteer, Sam Sturgis. If you are interest in joining our team of volunteers, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Zobeida, at zobeida.chaffee-valdes@americanancestors.org.
This database is available to Individual-level and above American Ancestors members only. Consider membership.
We are delighted to announce the Portsmouth, NH: School Records, 1846-1958 database is finally complete! This update adds 464,230 names and 377,055 records to this database for a total of 1,124,243 names and 1,142,558 records (please note: these are attendance lists, so many names do repeat, often with spelling variations).
This database is full of interesting surprises that can help paint a picture about the students’ lives from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to birth dates, parents, and residences, you can also find nicknames, deaths, doodles, course plans and books, notes about major events, staff, children running away, the weather, pranks, and punishments. The schools represent different neighborhoods throughout Portsmouth, but many students transferred to new, larger schools in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1890 the students from Bartlett, Cabot Street, Jones, Peabody, and Walker all transferred to the Whipple on State Street and Farragut on High Street.
This database is the result of a partnership between the Portsmouth Athenaeum and American Ancestors. The Portsmouth Athenaeum maintains a library of over 40,000 volumes and has held the city’s historic school records since 1991. The records included in this database are now housed in the collections of Portsmouth Public Library.
This database is available to Individual-level and above American Ancestors members only. Consider membership.
Vermont Genealogy has been updated! Volumes 23-27 have been added to the database, which is available thanks to our partnership with the Genealogical Society of Vermont. This update adds 22,534 names, 22,713 records, and 801 pages. The index for this database includes full names, the publication year (not the year of the records), and article titles and authors. Please note that Volume 23 has no searchable record content in the database because it does not have an index; it is image-only.
Vermont Genealogy made its debut as a quarterly journal in January 1996. In addition to featuring compiled genealogies, the journal often contains other material including: freeman’s lists, church memberships and dismissals, newspaper vital record abstracts, probate abstracts, cemetery transcriptions, Bible records, Civil War journals, 1890 Census reconstructions, book reviews, and “Seen Elsewhere,” a bibliography of other journal articles relevant to Vermont.
In 2009, Vermont Genealogy switched to semi-annual publication with spring and fall issues. Appointed editor in 2016, Michael F. Dwyer, FASG, has expanded the scope of coverage to include nineteenth-century century immigrant studies, “Gems from the Vermont State Archives,” and continuation of family sketches from “Vermont Families in 1791.”
The entire run of Vermont Genealogy is available at our American Ancestors research library, call number F48.V48 1996.
This update is made possible by of our long-time volunteer, Sam Sturgis. If you are interest in joining our team of volunteers, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Zobeida, at zobeida.chaffee-valdes@americanancestors.org.
This database is available to Individual-level and above American Ancestors members only. Consider membership.
We are excited to announce that volumes 31-34 (2017-2020) have been added to The Genealogist, in partnership with the American Society of Genealogists. This update adds 22,443 names, 22,719 records, and 1,308 pages to the database.
The American Society of Genealogists, founded in 1940, is an independent honorary society of the leading published scholars in the field of American genealogy. Since its inception, the ASG has served the discipline of genealogy by embodying and promoting the highest standards of genealogical scholarship. Foremost among the ASG’s ongoing activities is the publication of The Genealogist, one of the leading American journals of scholarly genealogy. For more information about the American Society of Genealogists, please visit their website.
We want to thank our volunteer, Sam Sturgis, for all of his work on this database! If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please reach out to our Database Volunteer Coordinator, Zobeida, at zobeida.chaffee-valdes@americanancestors.org.
This database is available to all American Ancestors members. Consider Membership.
We are happy to announce that volumes 46 and 47 (2020-2021) have been added to Rhode Island Roots. This update adds 4,389 names, 4,517 records, and 518 pages to the database.
The Rhode Island Genealogical Society publishes Rhode Island Roots quarterly. It features many Rhode Island records, such as cemetery and tax lists, General Assembly petitions, civil and military records, and genealogical articles — all focusing on Rhode Island families. Other features include articles about Rhode Islanders in other state census records, queries and a list of RI research volunteers. The authors include well-known genealogists as well as RIGS members with stories of their own families to tell.
The indexing for these records includes full names, publication year (not the year of the record), and article titles and authors.
The entire run of Rhode Island Roots is available at the NEHGS Boston research library, call number F78 .R2.
We want to thank our volunteer, Sam Sturgis, for all of his work on this database! If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please reach out to our Database Volunteer Coordinator, Zobeida, at zobeida.chaffee-valdes@americanancestors.org.
This database is available to all American Ancestors members, including Guest members, at no cost. Consider membership.
We are happy to announce that volumes 31-33.3 (2019-2021) have been added to The New Hampshire Genealogical Record. This updates adds 4,691 names, 4,756 records, and 410 pages. This database has been made available through partnership with the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.
The New Hampshire Genealogical Record was published by the New Hampshire Genealogical Society from Vol. 1, No. 1 (July 1903) to Vol. 7, No. 2 (April 1910). After a lengthy hiatus, it was resumed in 1990 by the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists with Vol. 7, No. 3. Volumes 1-7 are known as the “Old Series” and volumes 7 and up are the “New Series.”
The Journal captures a wealth of information for genealogists: vital records, probate records, bible records, headstone records, and memorials. It also includes well-documented family histories and genealogical articles covering hundreds of families with New Hampshire ties. Published articles include compiled genealogy, source records, and book reviews.
The name index portion of this database is based on the Journal Index listed at the end of each whole number volume that was published with such an index, along with a new index prepared by volunteers for volumes not originally indexed. Volumes will be added as their indexes become available.
We want to thank our volunteer, Sam Sturgis, for all of his work on this database! If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please reach out to our Database Volunteer Coordinator, Zobeida, at zobeida.chaffee-valdes@americanancestors.org.
This database is available to all American Ancestors members.
We are excited to announce that we have added volumes 42 and 43 (2020-2021) to The Maine Genealogist database. This update adds 453 pages, 9,300 records, and 9,173 searchable names.
Published since 1977, The Maine Genealogist is the quarterly journal of the Maine Genealogical Society, founded in 1976. Originally launched as a society newsletter, the publication became The Maine Seine, which continued through 1990. In 1991, its title was changed to The Maine Genealogist, and each 48 page issue contains scholarly articles on Maine families, with emphasis on solving long-standing problems and primary source documentation.
The indexing for these records includes full names, publication year (not the year of the record), and article titles and authors.
This update is made possible by the efforts of our long-time volunteer, Sam Sturgis. If you would like to get involved in the database digitization and indexing process, please contact Zobeida Chaffee-Valdes, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator, at zobeida.chaffee-valdes@americanancestors.org.
Please note: This database is available to all American Ancestors members.
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We have added a significant update to Daughters of the American Revolution: Patriots of Color, 1712–1888. This update includes 593 new names, pension numbers, ancestor numbers, and links to AncestTREES, bringing the total number of names in this database to 7,707 for the 10 Million Names initiative.
This database was made possible through a collaboration with Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and comes from decades of DAR research that culminated in the creation of their Patriots of Color Database in 2021. The database is part of the DAR E Pluribus Unum Educational Initiative, which seeks to highlight the stories of underrepresented Patriots and increase access to historical and genealogical resources surrounding the lives of people of color and women in the American Revolution. The DAR Patriots of Color Database can be found here.
This database encompasses a less-examined aspect of the American Revolution: the Black, Native American, and mixed-descent participants. For the patriots that can be found here, the information available is extremely varied and comes from many diverse sources. There were both free Black and enslaved Patriots, and these entries sometimes only include a first name, or a first name and their enslaver’s last name as parenthetical information. Native American participants may be listed under their indigenous names and their tribal affiliation will be provided when known. These entries cover the original thirteen colonies as well as some of the frontier areas, such as the “Old Northwest,” which encompasses most of the Great Lakes region.
This database is part of the 10 Million Names Project, which aims to recover and restore the names of the estimated 10 million women, men, and children of African descent who were enslaved in the U.S. prior to 1865.
This database is available to all American Ancestors members, including Guest members, at no cost. Consider membership.
We have added volumes 177 (2023), 178 (2024), 179 (2025) to our New England Historical and Genealogical Register database. This update contains adds 1,374 pages, 24,348 records, and 24,348 searchable names.
Published quarterly since 1847, the New England Historical and Genealogical Register is the flagship journal of American genealogy and the oldest journal in the field. The Register has featured articles on a wide variety of topics since its inception, including vital records, church records, tax records, land and probate records, cemetery transcriptions, obituaries, and historical essays. Authoritative compiled genealogies have been the centerpiece of the Register for more than 150 years. Thousands of New England families have been treated in the pages of the journal and many more are referenced in incidental ways throughout. These articles may range from short pieces correcting errors in print or solving unusual problems to larger treatments that reveal family origins or present multiple generations of a family.
The indexing for these records includes full names, publication year (not the year of the record), and article titles, and authors.
The entire run of New England Historical and Genealogical Register is available in our research library, call number F1.N56.
We want to thank our long-time volunteer, Sam Sturgis, for his work on this project! If you would like to get involved in the database digitization and indexing process, please contact Zobeida Chaffee-Valdes, our Database Services Volunteer Coordinator, at zobeida.chaffee-valdes@americanancestors.org.
This database is available to all American Ancestors members, including Guest members, at no cost. Consider membership.
We are happy to announce that we have added Volume 73 (2025) to the Mayflower Descendant database. This update adds 268 pages, 4,748 records, and 4,742 searchable names. The indexing for these records includes full names, publication year (not the year of the record), article titles, and authors.
The Mayflower Descendant was originally published by the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants starting in 1899. In 2015, American Ancestors assumed stewardship of the venerable journal. It is an essential source of information on many New England families, and its focus is not limited to those with Mayflower lineage. The journal includes transcriptions and abstracts of deeds, wills, vital records, and other original documents. In addition, it features compiled genealogies and analytical studies of genealogical problems.
We want to thank our long-time volunteer, Sam Sturgis, for his work on this project! If you would like to get involved in the database digitization and indexing process, please contact Zobeida Chaffee-Valdes, our Database Services Volunteer Coordinator, at zobeida.chaffee-valdes@americanancestors.org.
This database is available to Individual-level and above American Ancestors members only. Consider membership.