What are your go-to secondary sources for early New England research?

Question

Hi, 
I'm interested in collecting a list of the most popular secondary sources that people use for early New England research (I'm thinking about resarching before 1750, and by secondary I mean family genealogies, histories, not transcribed vital record collections).

I'm mostly interested in identifying reliable sources beyond what we already have on the PGM reliable sources page, but I'd also like to hear about any helpful sources and what you think their strengths and weaknesses are.

Some of the titles that have come up so far:

• Donald Lines Jacobus: Families of Old Fairfield and Families of Ancient New Haven
• Waldo Sprague: Genealogies of the Families of Braintree
• Charles Thornton Libby: Genealogical Dictionary Maine and New Hampshire
• John O Austin: The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (along with the corrections published in The American Genealogist)

The last one I have less experience with and would be interested to hear how reliable people think it is.  

These examples are all fairly-broad and location-based.  But if you have a family-specific source that you think is excellent, that's okay too.

Answer 1

In terms of go to sources, my starting point is usually Torrey's index of New England marriages to 1700 at American Ancestors, and then (not online) Hollick's New Englanders in the 1600s. Both are really tertiary sources, but give a good overview of the secondary publications. Hollick is much more selective in terms of the quality of what he includes. I see that this book is not on the PGM Reliable Sources page. I'd include it and probably regard everything in his bibliography as reliable. It's close to Great Migration Directory in quality, but just covers what happens to have been published.

The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island I have found to be a mixed bag. It has some useful material and often a lot of detail, but some of it is doubtful. The sources are not always obvious, though that could be due to my unfamiliarity with what sources are available in RI. It certainly doesn't come up to the standard of sourced material in GDMNH, though that also has some unsourced statements in it. I wouldn't regard either of these as reliable secondary sources to be cited but as guides to where to start researching an individual.

Comments

I agree that Torrey's New England Marriages is a great first source because of its "overview of secondary publications." It saves a lot of time.

I would also add James Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England.

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Yes, I should have mentioned Savage, but I'd place that lower in the reliability scale than GDMNH and GDRI.

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Thanks, Chip and Andrew.  I've never used Hollick's but have heard of it.  I agree it should be mentioned somewhere.  The most recent edition covers articles through 2011.  I'm thinking that the Great Migration Directory would cover those publications, but that Hollick's would include resources for those immigrants who didn't meet Anderson's criteria for the Directory?

We should be mentioning Savage somewhere.  I believe Anderson's process for developing a Great Migration sketch starts with reviewing Savage (and Pope where appropriate), reviewing the sources in Torrey, searching for more current publications and then adding in appropriate primary records.  While not always accurate it is the foundation of New England genealogy, and I've seen notes stating that he is believed to have had access to some records no longer available.

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Hollick's stated aim is to index scholarly work since 1980, covering immigrants to New England prior to 1700 who left descendants or appear in more than one work, sometimes 2nd to 4th generation descendants of the immigrants.

He includes Anderson's publications in the relevant period, so duplicates some material in GM Directory but its scope goes well beyond that. Hence my interest, as I work on the Scottish Prisoners of War who arrived in 1650-52, though not (yet) doing that on Wikitree.

Answer 2

My usual first stops:

Maine in 1790 project (now up to 12 volumes). Published by the Maine Genealogical Society. While 1790 is later than your question, many of the heads of households profiled were born before 1750 ~ or are linked to parents who were. 

The Great Migration project from NEHGS and all of its off-shoots. 

The Mayflower "silver" books. Some have been superseded by recent research but still helpful.

The DAR application records in their genealogical research system (GRS). Like the others, the accuracy can be iffy, especially for older applications ~ but it's worth seeing what has already been researched. As with the Maine in 1790 project, the GRS is focused on slightly later records but often has details about the generation born in the mid 1700s.

For anyone Quaker, Hinshaw's Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy is very much a starting point ~ but it can help with locating people and which meetings they attended for a jumping off point to original records. [Side note: Thomas Hill's Quaker meetings website is an excellent tool for locating Quaker records.]

Finally, the major journals: NGSQ, NEHGR, NYGB, TAG, and so on. No sense reinventing the wheel if someone has already done the research.

Comments

Great New England resources.  I wasn't aware of the Maine in 1790 project, so that's good to know about.

Answer 3

Several of these families, particularly the Mayflower passengers, have family association-with websites.

I think local histories have been underated as resources for genealogical research. If you have the time to read about how the towns developed, that can really be helpful in distinguishing between individuals, and even families with very similar names and dates.

New England Historic Genealogical Society sponsors the Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research, now in 6th edition. I haven't found any source for clear charts and explanations for how people spread out, and towns split off of major settlements like Salem, Boston, Plymouth, Rehoboth, Dedham, Lancaster, Springfield, etc. but the raw data is available in a series of charts in the 5th edition. (The 6th edition was released during the pandemic and I haven't had a chance to examine that.) I've been thinking of creating my own timelines for Rehoboth, Dedham, and Lancaster because that is much of my dad's family. They haven't moved very much at all in 400 years, so it is worthwhile to work out when the towns and counties were separated, joined, or changed. This is what made the Early Vital Records of Massachusetts project so helpful-it was easy to click through from one town to another to follow a family and hold them together through a migration, or a redistribution of administration-it was easier to compare heads of household with similar names. At least we still have the "Tan Books" of early vital records (before 1850) for most of the towns online in several places, we just have to track down accessible copies of each separately.

Comments

I agree about learning about the history of the development of the towns.  After researching an area for a while, you start to get a sense of which locations flow together.  It can really be help to catch an error when there's a location that doesn't quite make sense.  I would love to have migration charts.

NEHGS has a couple of free resources that aren't exactly migration charts, but have some good information on the towns (including archaic names). 

• Massachusetts Town Guides which links to
• Massachusetts: Historical Data Relating to Cities and Towns

These may require becoming a guest member, but they do not require a paid subscription.

Answer 4

Jacobus' Hale, House, And Related Families, Mainly of the Connecticut River Valley is a good resource for Connecticut ancestors.

Comments

Yes, I think we have Jacobus, in large part, to thank for bringing rigorous research standards to published genealogies.

Answer 5

See my answer to the question about Rehobeth, and feel free to contact me directly.