Author Archive
We’re excited to announce 8 new sketches to our Boston Tea Party Participant Biographies database, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. All the sketches added during this update are proven participants.
The goal of this project is to create comprehensive biographical sketches for all individuals associated with or known to have participated in the Boston Tea Party, which took place on December 16, 1773 in Boston Harbor. This project is launched in conjunction with the announcement of the Boston Tea Party Descendants Program, a new lineage society for those whose ancestors participated in the historic revolutionary event. This project, as well as the Descendants Program, are both in collaboration with the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. You can learn more about the Boston Tea Party Descendants Program here.
Below is the list of new biographies for the following individuals:
- Charles Conner (1734-1791) [Participant]
- John Cochran (1749-1839) [Participant]
- Stephen Bruce (1746-1806) [Participant]
- Thomas Chase (1739-1787) [Participant]
- Thomas Melvill (1751-1832) [Participant]
- William Etheridge (1739-1789) [Participant]
- William Molineux/Molineaux (1717-1774) [Participant]
- William Pierce/Pearce (1744-1840) [Participant]
New sketches will be released regularly, so stay tuned for more!
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members, including Guest Members, at no cost. Consider membership.
Today we’ve added 5 new sketches and updated 1 sketch in Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The people profiled in the new sketches all lived settled in Brattleboro.
With this study project, Scott Andrew Bartley researches the heads of families who lived in Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War. These sketches illustrate major players on political and religious fronts, uncover the migration patterns for this period in the region, and identify all those just looking to better their lives on the new frontier. This project is proceeding in two series, settlers to 1771 and 1772-1784. The work so far has been geographical, focusing on Windsor and Windham Counties.
The new sketches are listed below:
The updated sketch is listed below:
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’re very excited to be announcing a new database, Massachusetts: Shaker Records of the Fruitlands Museum, 1791-1918. The database features over 14,000 records from five volumes kept by the Harvard and Shirley Shaker communities. These archives are part of the Trustees of Reservations’ Fruitlands Shaker Manuscript Collection.
These records can be a valuable resource into understanding life in the Massachusetts’ Shaker communities and can supply tremendous genealogical value in terms of dates and names of vital and church records for the community that are not reflected in state-held records.
This online database is a collaboration between the Trustees’ Archives & Research Center (ARC), and American Ancestors. In 2016, Fruitlands Museum became The Trustees’ 116th reservation, and the Shaker manuscript materials were relocated to the ARC in Sharon, Massachusetts. Currently, this online database is index-only. The original materials, as well as high-resolution digital scans, can be accessed by contacting the ARC (arc@thetrustees.org).
In 1922, Fruitlands Museum founder Clara Endicott Sears opened the world’s first museum honoring the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, more commonly known as the Shakers. Through her research on the Transcendentalists and the town history of Harvard, Massachusetts, Sears had gotten to know the Harvard Shakers personally before the community closed in 1918. In 1920, Sears purchased the original Shaker Trustees’ Office and moved the building to Fruitlands. She restored the Office, which was built in 1794, and filled it with Shaker objects as a way to share the history and culture of the Shakers. Once the museum opened, she continued to collect Shaker materials, acquiring items through gifts, purchases, and exchanges. Some of her acquisitions came directly from the Shakers themselves, who were among the museum’s early visitors and recognized that Sears was a respectful steward for their legacy. Materials continued to be collected by the museum throughout the 20th century.
In Harvard, the Fruitlands Museum site continues to display the objects that Sears collected. The museum features three separate collections of significant Shaker, Native American, and American art and artifacts, as well as a historic farmhouse that was once home to the family of Louisa May Alcott and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. The property is situated on 210 acres of land, stunning views, and miles of walking trails.
To learn more about this unique community of Harvard and Shirley Shakers and Fruitlands, please visit the Fruitlands Museum website.
We are grateful to a very dedicated team of ten volunteers who worked over hundreds of hours to transcribe the list names found in these volumes.
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members, including Guest Members.
We’re excited to announce that today we are updating our Rhode Island: Vital Records, 1636-1850 database with 5 new volumes, adding more than 90,000 records to search. The majority of the added records are compiled marriage and death records from historic newspapers throughout Rhode Island.
This database includes the volumes of vital records that James N. Arnold began publishing in 1891 for the towns of Rhode Island. The series would go on to include church records and newspaper records, ultimately filling twenty-one volumes with information. This re-indexing of our original 2002 database includes records from Volumes 1-12, and 17-21.
All 21 volumes are available for viewing at the NEHGS Research Library, call number F78.A75.
Below is the list of volumes added to the database:
- Marriages and Deaths – V17
- Marriages and Deaths – V18
- Marriages and Deaths – V19
- Marriages and Deaths – V20
- Marriages and Deaths – V21
This database re-do would not be possible without the help of our wonderful volunteers. A special thank you to Alida Baker, Allyson Koehler, Arlys LaFehr, Ashley Waters, Barbara Macken, Becki Clarke, Bill Morse, Bruce McKeeman, Bruce Shaw, Cameron Picton, Carol Demers, Carolyn Jack, Ciara Leonard, Daria O’Connor, Eldon Gay, Gale Stevenson, Ginny Marshall, Jaimie Williams-Peterson, Jane Himmel, Joan Hammond, Karen Del Vecchio, Katherine Marshall-Mayer, Lisa Butler, Lisia Bisio, Loretta Aldrich, Mara Witzling, Melanie Nelson, Michelle Kearns, Nancy Johnson, Patricia Nesbitt, Pauline Cusson, Renda Smith, Rick Lagueux, Robyn Choate, Ron Wilson, Rosemary Durica, Ross Weaver, Sandy Caldwell, Sandy Murphy Mauer, Sara Stinson, Susan Fougstedt, Susan Morath, Susan Van Allen, Therese Mosorjak and Val Abrahamsen, for all of your very appreciated hard work.
If you would like to become part of the team working on rewarding genealogical projects, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org .
Please note: This database is now available to all NEHGS members, including Guest Members, at no cost.
We’re excited to announce 12 new sketches to our Boston Tea Party Participant Biographies database, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. We have also updated all sketch titles to reflect participation status in the Tea Party, as either a participant, an eyewitness, or an individual whose participation has been disproved.
The goal of this project is to create comprehensive biographical sketches for all individuals associated with or known to have participated in the Boston Tea Party, which took place on December 16, 1773 in Boston Harbor. This project is launched in conjunction with the announcement of the Boston Tea Party Descendants Program, a new lineage society for those whose ancestors participated in the historic revolutionary event. This project, as well as the Descendants Program, are both in collaboration with the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. You can learn more about the Boston Tea Party Descendants Program here.
Below is the list of new biographies for the following individuals:
- Edward Compton Howe (1742-1821) [Participant]
- Edward Proctor (1733-1811) [Participant]
- Gilbert Colesworthy (1744-1784) [Participant]
- Henry Bass (1740-1813) [Participant]
- James Foster Condy (1746-1809) [Participant]
- James Mills (1749-1790) [Eyewitness]
- John Prince (1751-1836) [Eyewitness]
- John Spurr (1749-1822) [Participant]
- Joseph Payson (1741-1801) [Participant]
- Lendall Pitts (1747-1787) [Participant]
- Nathaniel Wills (1755-1831) [Participant]
- Samuel Pitts (1745-1805) [Participant]
New sketches will be released regularly, so stay tuned for more!
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members, including Guest Members, at no cost. Consider membership.
We are very excited to announce a new database: On the Battlefield: Records of Soldiers, Veterans and Refugees.
This database provides lists of soldiers of color and accompanying genealogical information. This database is presented as a part of the 10 Million Names project. For more information about the 10 Million Names project see the full website here.
This database is organized into volumes, with each volume currently representing a list of names for regiments that served in the Civil War. Each record includes regimental information, noted service records (including enlistment date, company, rank at enlistment, separation date and reason, as well as any casualty information). Residence, occupation, age and physical descriptions at the time of enlistment are also included. Pension information may be available as well, including soldier, widow, and minor/child pension application and certificate numbers.
In the future, new volumes will be released to reflect individuals who served in colonial wars (1609-1720), the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), and the War of 1812 (1812–1815). Later, free Black soldiers—most of whom were descended from enslaved people—participated in the Spanish-American War (1898) and the Philippine Insurrection (1899–1902). This project will rely not just on the rich records created for soldiers, but also for veterans and wartime refugees. This project is planned to expand well beyond Massachusetts and New England.
This database currently contains the following volumes:
- Massachusetts 5th Calvary Regimental Information (Index-Only)
- Massachusetts 54h Regimental Information (Index-Only)
- Massachusetts 55th Regimental Information (Index-Only)
The data for this database was compiled by NEHGS researcher Jonathan Hill, using Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers who Served with the United States Colored Troops (available through the National Archives), and Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War, volumes 1-9.
Currently, the Black Loyalist Directory, 1783-1788 is it’s own database. This includes lists of formerly enslaved soldiers and refugees who served with the British during the American Revolution. This database can be accessed here.
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members, including Guest Members, at no cost, as part of 10 Million Names.
We’re excited to announce 1 new sketch and 1 updated sketch to our Boston Tea Party Participant Biographies, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
The goal of this project is to create comprehensive biographical sketches for all individuals associated with or known to have participated in the Boston Tea Party, which took place on December 16, 1773 in Boston Harbor. This project is launched in conjunction with the announcement of the Boston Tea Party Descendants Program, a new lineage society for those whose ancestors participated in the historic revolutionary event. This project, as well as the Descendants Program, are both in collaboration with the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. You can learn more about the Boston Tea Party Descendants Program here.
Below is the list of new sketches of participant biographies for the following individuals:
The following sketch has been updated in our database:
New sketches will be released regularly, so stay tuned for more!
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members, including Guest Members, at no cost. Consider membership
Today we’ve added 3 new sketches to Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The people profiled in the new sketches all lived settled in Brattleboro.
With this study project, Scott Andrew Bartley researches the heads of families who lived in Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War. These sketches illustrate major players on political and religious fronts, uncover the migration patterns for this period in the region, and identify all those just looking to better their lives on the new frontier. This project is proceeding in two series, settlers to 1771 and 1772-1784. The work so far has been geographical, focusing on Windsor and Windham Counties.
The new sketches are listed below:
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’ve added 10 new sketches and 1 updated sketch to Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The people profiled in the new and updated sketches lived in Brattleboro, Fort Dummer and Rockingham.
With this study project, Scott Andrew Bartley researches the heads of families who lived in Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War. These sketches illustrate major players on political and religious fronts, uncover the migration patterns for this period in the region, and identify all those just looking to better their lives on the new frontier. This project is proceeding in two series, settlers to 1771 and 1772-1784. The work so far has been geographical, focusing on Windsor and Windham Counties.
The new sketches are listed below:
Gorton, Benjamin (Brattleboro)
Hadley, Ebenezer (Brattleboro)
Moore, Fairbanks Jr. (Rockingham)
Nichols, William (Brattleboro)
Paddleford, Phillip (Brattleboro)
The updated sketch is listed below:
Willard, Josiah, Col. (Ft. Dummer)
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’ve updated Early New England Families, 1641-1700, adding one new sketch. This new sketch features Edward Jackson and his family. Edward lived in Whitechapel Parish, London, England, before relocating to New England with his wife and young children about 1642. He settled in what is present-day Newton, Massachusetts.
The Early New England Families, 1641-1700 study project is led by Alicia Crane Williams. This project highlights heads of families mentioned in Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700, focusing on individuals who immigrated from 1641 through 1700, grouped by year of marriage.
Interested researchers should also read Alicia’s recent Vita Brevis post, “Genealogical Clusters”, which discusses her research process and interesting discoveries while preparing this specific sketch.
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.