Well I missed another Friday, but I am back at it this week. Today’s Friday Focus is all about the materials of some of the original 13 colonies. I say some because I have already covered the materials for Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. While we don’t have as much on the Colonial States as we do on other areas, they are important to our collection since many Southerners can trace their roots to those upper colonies. When I think of the colonies I do tend to focus on New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine. Personally I have done a little research in Connecticut because one of my lines traces back to that state.
I am going to start with New York and one of their earliest records being the 1790 Census. Heads of families at the first census of the United States taken in the year 1790 : New York. The following book seems to get a fair bit of use even now with the Census being available online.
Another great book that covers both New York and New Jersey is: Ship passenger lists. New York and New Jersey, 1600-1825 / edited and indexed by Carl Boyer, 3rd. Early ship passenger records can be difficult to locate, so any published group of them is very helpful.
When it comes to Massachusetts it is a group of books by Susan E. Roser that gets a lot of attention: Mayflower marriages : from the files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants; Mayflower births & deaths : from the files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants; Mayflower deeds & probates : from the files of George Ernest Bowman at the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants. These books can be especially helpful if you are trying to prove your heritage as a Mayflower Descendant.
When we get over into Connecticut a great resource not to miss is: Genealogical and family history of the state of Connecticut : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation / editorial staff, William Richard Cutter … [et al.]
Of all the colonies I believe that we have the least about the state of Vermont, but there is one good resource for that state not to be missed: Soldiers of the Revolutionary War buried in Vermont, and anecdotes and incidents relating to some of them : a paper read before the Vermont Historical Society October 27, 1904 / by Walter H. Crockett.
You can’t go wrong with vital records, especially when a book covers so many of them and this volume does just that: Vital records of Londonderry, New Hampshire : a full and accurate transcript of the births, marriage intentions, marriages, and deaths in this town from the earliest date to 1910 / compiled from the town books, church records, graveyard inscriptions, and other sources by Daniel Gage Annis ; the subject matter edited, with introduction, sketches, and annotations by George Waldo Browne.
Like the size of the state our collection on Rhode Island is small but there is actually one book in particular that talks all about research in Rhode Island: Research in Rhode Island / Maureen A. Taylor (Maybe my next order of materials will have to include a few things to grow the collection on Rhode Island)
Finally we get to the beautiful state of Maine, though the book I am going to highlight covers both Maine and New Hampshire. At 795 pages this book covers a little bit of everything on the two states: Genealogical dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire / by Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, Walter Goodwin Davis.
This is just a small taste of what our collection on the colonies has to offer, I hope you will look at the collections soon!
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