Is there a project that covers these pre-1700 people? Kelley/Kelly

Question

I want to help contribute to the deep genealogy on our shared tree.

1.) Geographical region and time period:   Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts Bay @ 1600's

2.) Some example names and dates:   Joseph William Kelley/Kelly b. 01 Dec 1683, John Kelly b. 02 Jul 1642

3.) Source(s) for my information on them:   Family records

Before I get started adding and changing profiles, can you tell me if there is a WikiTree project that would cover these people? If so, how do I get in touch with the project members to coordinate and collaborate on the profiles?

Answer 1

The immigrant ancestor of this Kelley family has a profile at Kelley-94. His son John and grandson Joseph also have profiles.  The family is in the ambit of Project:Massachusetts. With a son born in Newbury in 1642, the immigrant may be a Puritan Great Migration settler; he's not profiled in the two main book series that have been published so far (I didn't check The Great Migration Directory), but I found information about the family in those books. (See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Puritan Great Migration for information about that project.)

These profiles are minimally sourced, at best. They need research. For this time period, it's very rare for family records to have value as sources (it's exceedingly rare to find a trove of 17th-century letters, deeds, and family bibles in an American family's attic). Fortunately, Massachusetts has abundant resource material in the form of vital records and other documents, much of which are digitized and accessible online. Do you have experience researching Massachusetts records, or will you need advice to get started?