Author Archive

New sketches: Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784

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Postcard depicting the suspension bridge in Brattleboro, Vermont across the Connecticut River, c. 1898 (image public domain via Wikimedia Commons; available through the New York Public Library’s Digital Library).

Today we’ve added 2 new sketches and updated 4 sketches in Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The people profiled in the new and updated sketches lived in Brattleboro and Fort Dummer.

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:

Herrick, Jonathan (Brattleboro)

Sargent, John (Brattleboro)

The updated sketches are listed below:

Greenleaf, Stephen (Brattleboro)

Prouty, Richard (Brattleboro)

Willard, Nathan (Fort Dummer)

Willard, Wilder (Fort Dummer)

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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The Genealogist: Volume 2 (1981) now available

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Publication cover of The Genealogist, showing Volume 15 (to be released on AmericanAncestors.org soon!)

We’re excited to announce the release of Volume 2 (1981) of The Genealogist, in partnership with the American Society of Genealogists. This update adds more than 4,790 records to search in 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 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.

In agreement with the American Society of Genealogists, AmericanAncestors.org will eventually host Volumes 1-30 of The Genealogist backlog issues — New volumes and updates will be announced regularly. We are also delighted to announce that this database is available at no cost to NEHGS Guest Members, as well as to Individual Members.

We’d like to thank David Anderson for his help in indexing this volume, and to Sam Sturgis for his help in making this volume available online.

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.  Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

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The Genealogist: Volume 1 (1980) now available

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Publication cover of The Genealogist, showing Volume 15 (to be released on AmericanAncestors.org soon!)

We’re excited to announce the release of Volume 1 (1980) of The Genealogist, in partnership with the American Society of Genealogists. This update adds 5,170 records to search in 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 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.

In agreement with the American Society of Genealogists, AmericanAncestors.org will eventually host Volumes 1-30 of The Genealogist backlog issues — New volumes and updates will be announced regularly. We are also delighted to announce that this database is available at no cost to NEHGS Guest Members, as well as to Individual Members.

We’d like to thank David Anderson for his help in indexing this volume, and to Sam Sturgis for his help in making this volume available online.

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.  Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

Read more »

Westfield, MA: Baptisms Performed in the Church of Christ, 1679-1836 Now Fully Indexed and Browsable

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The Rainbow in the Berkshire Hills by George Inness, 1869, depicting a scene of a post-storm Western Massachusetts (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons).

Today we are releasing an updated version of our Westfield, MA: Baptisms Performed in the Church of Christ, 1679-1836 database. This updated version includes the images from the collection and the index now includes full names, relationships, locations and race where available.

The story of the first church in Westfield is inextricably tied to that of its first pastor, Reverend Edward Taylor (1642-1729). Taylor was born in England in 1642 and arrived in Massachusetts in 1668. After graduating from Harvard College in 1671 (where he shared a room with diarist Samuel Sewall, who became a lifelong friend), he was asked to become minister to the settlers of Westfield, and he arrived in the town on December 3, 1671. Westfield at that time was still a frontier settlement, and due to the Indian wars and other hardships, the church was not formally organized until August 27, 1679, nearly eight years after his arrival. Reverend Taylor served the church for the rest of his life – a total of fifty-eight years – until his death in 1729. He also had studied medicine and was for many years the only physician in Westfield and miles beyond. Reverend Taylor was also an extremely prolific and gifted poet, although virtually none of his poems were ever published in his lifetime. According to John Lockwood’s Westfield and Its Historic Influences, it was said that Reverend Taylor had “left no less than a hundred volumes which he had transcribed and bound with his own hands.”

This typescript was given to the Society by Harold Dougherty of Westfield in 1937 and is kept in the R. Stanton Avery Collections at NEHGS, call number MS WES 2130.

The database now includes 280 pages, and approximately 11,000 names to search.

This project was made possible by the efforts of our wonderful volunteer, Jayn Stillson.

If you would like to get involved in the database digitization and indexing process, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Now available to guest members: General Society of the War of 1812 Membership Applications, 1854-1979

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Combat between the USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere by Michel Felice Corne (1752-1845). Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

We are very excited to announce that our database, General Society of the War of 1812 Membership Applications, 1854-1979, is now available to NEHGS guest members, free of cost.

This database includes all applications and supplemental applications to the General Society of the War of 1812 starting from their formal founding in 1854. Material is not included for individuals listed in the applications who were born after January 1, 1979. This database is searchable for given names and surnames, and includes records for provided births, baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials listed for persons in the line of eligibility for membership on the application forms. This database adds more than 170,000 records to search.

Currently, the database includes applications from Member 1 to Member 5200. If an application is excluded, it is due to the privacy policy outlined above.

This database was created through a partnership of the General Society of the War of 1812 and AmericanAncestors.  We thank the employees and volunteers of both organizations for their amazing work to make this information available online.

Through the years, the General Society of the War of 1812 has established a large network of War of 1812 descendants all over the United States. For more information about this society, you can see the General Society of the War of 1812 web page.

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members, including guest members. Consider membership.

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New sketches: Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784

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Postcard depicting West River Road, Brattleboro, Vermont, c. 1898 (Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons; image available from New York Public Library Digital Library).

Today we’ve added 3 new sketches and updated 2 sketches in Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The people profiled in the new and updated sketches lived 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:

Herrick, Joseph (Brattleboro)

Pike, Jacob (Brattleboro)

Pike, John (Brattleboro)

The updated sketches are listed below:

McCune, William (Brattleboro)

Wilder, Tilly (Brattleboro)

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Archdiocese of Boston: new searchable records from Georgetown

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Excerpt of “A Topographical Map of Essex County, Massachusetts” by Henry Francis Walling, 1856, cropped to highlight Georgetown (Accessed via Wikimedia Commons, available through the Library of Congress).

Today we’ve added 6 new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from  St. Mary (Georgetown). This small update adds more than 6,000 names to search.

The new volumes are listed below:

St. Mary (Georgetown) Baptisms, 1916-1920

St. Mary (Georgetown) Confirmations, 1917-1920

St. Mary (Georgetown) Deaths, 1916-1920

St. Mary (Georgetown) First Communions, 1915-1917

St. Mary (Georgetown) First Communions, 1917-1919

St. Mary (Georgetown) Marriages, 1916-1920

Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, 1789-1920 is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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New sketches: Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784

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A View in Vermont, by William Louis Sonntag, c. 1874 (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons; access by New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut).

Today we’ve added 5 new sketches to Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The people profiled in the new sketches lived 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:

Fox, Ebenezer (Brattleboro)

French, Nathaniel (Brattleboro)

Goss, William (Brattleboro)

Harris, Oliver (Brattleboro)

Nourse, Benjamin (Brattleboro)

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Archdiocese of Boston: new searchable records from Lowell

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Modern view of St. Jean-Baptiste Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, c. 2011 (public domain via Wikimedia Commons).

Today we’ve added 41 new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from  St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell). This update adds over 53,400 records and more than 110,000 names to search.

The new volumes are listed below:

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1901

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1902

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1903-1904

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1904-1905

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1906

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1907

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1908

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1908-1909

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1909-1911

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1911-1913

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1913-1915

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1915

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1916

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1917

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1917-1918

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1918-1919

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1919-1920

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Baptisms, 1920

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1901

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1902

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1903

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1904

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1905

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1906

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1907

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1908

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1909

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1910

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1912

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1913

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1915

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Confirmations, 1917

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Deaths, 1901-1905

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Deaths, 1905-1909

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Deaths,1909-1912

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Marriages, 1903-1908

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Marriages, 1908-1915

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Marriages, 1910

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Marriages, 1915-1918

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Marriages,1918-1920

St. Jean Baptiste (Lowell) Marriages,1920

Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, 1789-1920 is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Early New England Families, 1641-1700: new sketch

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“View of the city of Boston from Dorchester Heights,” engraved by Robert Havell, colorized by Havell and Spearing, c. 1841 (public domain via Wikimedia Commons, access provided by the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division).

Today we’ve updated Early New England Families, 1641-1700adding one new sketch. This new sketch features Isaac Jones and his family. Isaac arrived in New England at the age of eight, with his family largely settling in Dorchester and the surrounding area.

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 “The Jones Boys” discussing her research process for this sketch.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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