| Show YOUR forefathers in response to a rapidly increasing interest in the subject among the saints and to 10 inquiries frequently put to me I 1 respectfully submit the following upon the subject of american genealogy hoping to convey to persons interested information that may be of use uee these suggestions are the results of my personal experience while making several tours of the older states of the union searching record libraries etc and of the study I 1 have been able to give the subject during a number of years genealogy and history are lu inseparable separ and the K g nea logist should be familiar with the history of the region in which he is working but as my present alm aim is to offer practical hinch to persons who do not expect to pursue the subject of genealogy further than to compile the records of their own ancestry and ana kindred I 1 will dwell as briefly as po possible enible on the historical features of it beginning with new england the first settlement was made in 1620 by puritans foursome fur some years after that the numbers of new settlers were not great but from 1630 to 1642 the tide of migration was strong in the latter year the puritan party in england with cromwell sit t its head bead began its ascendancy and soon after that the liberty which the puritans had bad sought bought in migration was secured to them at home and hence there was a great and rapid falli tair off in the numbers that bat went to new england dating irom 1642 one high authority estimates males that seven eighths of the inhabitants inhabitant or new england when the revolution broke out in 1776 were descended from ancestors who came from england before 1642 hence in tracing a new england family we will find in seven oases capes out oi eight that it was founded by an immigrant who came over between 1620 and 1642 a period of twenty two years and in six cases out of eight judging from my own experience the immigrant ancestor arrived between 1630 and 1642 a period of only twelve years the bulk of the migration consisted of families men with their wives and children servants and nd apprentices to suppose that th the ear early ar settlers of new england were drawn from the poor and ignorant classes or the mother country la is a mistake in intelligence education and worldly prosperity they were above the average of the masses of their countrymen and though their migration involved a sacrifice of worldly possessions their intellectual average was wai high and their numbers embraced many men of learning and ability I 1 will here digress for the purpose of correcting an error for the extensive prevalence of which I 1 can offer no explanation the great majority of americans americana who have not traced their geneal genealogies from records yet undertake to give an account of the founding of their families in this thi country will state that three brothers came over it to Is never two brothers nor four brothers but always three broth brothers why this three brothers brothe raPP tradition should have been so 0 widely adopted emong american families is in a mystery for which I 1 have met with no solution lution eo of course there were instances in which two three four or more brothers came over after reaching adult age but the vast majority of new england families were found ed ad by immigrants who brought their wives and children and were not accompanied compa nied by brothers brot bers from the earliest earli eit times timea in now new england each town had an official known as an the town clerk whose duty it was to record all births deaths and marriages in nearly every town such a record exists but it is in seldom even tolerably complete and in most oases cases to is very imperfect frequently it is only fragmentary otten a book covering a long period of years has been lost or destroyed by fire or otherwise the first thing toe ane settlers did in most oases cases alter fairly founding their tow town was to install a minister who commonly kepl kepi a record of baptisms and marriages and sometimes deaths but the church record Is often as deficient as the town clerks there were also records kept of the proceedings of the town meetings meeting sti all i e conventions composed of voters residing in the town which were hold held from one to several times limes a year also of the doings of the selectmen lists of taxpayers pow pew owners military organizations etc there were also dating from the earliest timea probate courts under whose jurisdiction wius wills were proved and estates divided among the heirs thereto the records of these courts are a valuable source of genealogical information the family bible record was also kept in many cases tout but it Is seldom that a bible can be found containing a record going back more than one or two generations beyond the memory of toe me living tombstone inscriptions afford specially valuable information and clues fo all these records and others not named aud and a great variety of other sources of information the gon genealogist ealo have recourse what data tie does not find and iu I 1 U one place he perhaps may in another he searches in each and then patiently separates arranges and weaves together the maw man of material he has gathered the result being a chronological and methodical record of tho the descendants at ad the theina ina migrant ano etor with dates and other an aa accurate and complete ag they can be obtained obviously this work must consume a gnat amount of time and be correspondingly pon expensive if the In tor in working for wages but during recent years yean an extraordinary interest in the subject bas baa beau widely prevalent in now new england increasing in intensity year by year thousands of ladies and gentlemen having means and loi leisure sure have been impelled to collect genealogical data respecting their own or other families and many of the resulting compilations compilation a have been printed in many oases cases the town meeting has made an appropriation pria tion to cover the cost of preparing and pir printing inting the history of the town which usually includes genealogical tables of the old fat families of the place in many other oases cases such works have been aritte i and published by individual enterprise many complete genealogies of families embracing all branches that have descended from a common ancestor have been compiled and printed about nine mine hundred volumes of this character containing genealogies of new england families have been printed 11 I 1 use uie the word prin printed tedIs rather than the word published for the reason that ina in a great many instances the volumes have been beed prepared for private distribution and not for public sale ale and it in ia frequently difficult and sometime impossible to purchase a copy I 1 once saw a splendidly printed and aad bound volume as large as a family bible containing the genealogy of a family which has baa had several distinguished representatives in utah the preparation and printing of which must have cost thousands of dollars only six copies of which were printed so eo I 1 was informed Inform eJ the remarkable interest which the people of new england have taken in the subject of genealogy has impelled t em am to compile and print a so 0 much material relating to it tu 4 t it is a comparatively easy matter to trace almost any family that flourished in that part of america unless there were more than one of the same name in the same vicinity then it may be difficult to separate the members ot of the respective families it la Is necessary however that the investigator should hould be where he be cau can get access tu to the books containing the data he be wants the most complete collection of bloks relating to american genesi ogy agy and local history iu in existence is in contained in the library of the new england historic genealogical society IS 18 somerset street boston mass the next beet beat collection ool lection is ie lu the boston public library the congressional lib ray at washington contains a large number of such works so does docs the naon library at hartford conn and I 1 am also that the ine same to la true of the astor library in new york city and of the Athe athenaeum to in philadelphia I 1 mention these institutions thiu thinking klug it possible that mat persons interested may have relatives or correspondents within reach of them who might be prevailed upon to transcribe irom from printed works genealogical information A person who desires demiris to obtain the genealogy of a now new england family by personal effort and searching Bearo hing should go first to one of the libraries I 1 nave have named preferably one of those in boston and from works of reference and local histories he be la ii tolerably certain to obtain information which will put him on a track which he can bollow as tar far as he chooses cho osce and gather material until he has baa sufficient for his hie purpose if he be does not find in print the data he desires he fie wll wil learn what original sources of information he must resort to and what he must visit to got get access to them but it is ie far cheaper and preferable in every way to employ some person familiar with the work such a person can accomplish more in one day than a novice could in a week there are a number of professional geneale L leists lats in boston and other new cities who compile family records to order in new york state genealogies are gathe gathered from records similar to those named above some of the early probate records at albany and in now new york city are written in butah and to procure the data they afford a person who can translate thern them must be employed to trace a knickerbocker Knicker booker family is very difficult as aa the sou son did not in earlier timm times usually adopt the abe surname by which the abe lather father was known and in many instances men were in various documents and records by their Chris christian chrisom tm names only several experts have labored to compile correct genealogies geDea logies of the early earl y dutch families of norta ern new york and have published the results difficulties attend the compilation pi lation of toe the genealogies of the dutch settlers of new jersey bui in this state judging from personal pers oual experience and ana the practice of making wills was more prevalent than in any other during colonial times the rho wills proved in that state prior to 1808 and the probate records dating prior to that deir are stored in the office effice of the secretary of state at Ir trenton renton or in the office of the surrogate probate judge at newark being divided bt mceu what was formerly known as aa fast chast jersey anil and west jersey these records with those kept by charobee chu rube robee are the main reliance ot of the genealogist in ahlis state aud and not much material of value to him been put iu in print benea of new jersey families frequently lack IBOK daters ot of birth binh as there IN fit lo in many mady cases no record from which th y can be obtained pennsylvania was not settled until long after the other olber states amatea named anu and consequently records there do not go as far back there wore were not ninny white while people in that bdate prior to about 1700 and the bulk of the population la is comparatively modern migration but little littia materiel materi jl to genealogy has been printed in abib state though the interest autt rest iu in the sub hect jt ct has much increased inore asea within the last lew jew years laud land probate aud and hurch church records are the main sources of information for the genealogist here maryland and virginia were colonies that became populous early and sent out swarms of settlers over the regions south and west embracing what are now many southern and western states the following article published in the now new england his and genealogical register for october 1892 comprises some ome of the results of several weeks spent by me in traveling and be searching arching in the state to which it refer OF genealogical IN FORMATION IN MARYLAND under the royal charter which lord baltimore received preparatory to founding a colony in Mary maryland laud the fee of all lands embraced within the province was vested in him As aa lord proprietary he caused to be established a rule under which each immigrant coming direct from the mother country to the province received a given number of acres for himself and an additional number for each of his bis children and servants servant the object being to encourage 1 immigration lands were conveyed to the settlers subject to a rental pay able to the lord proprietary which however was wait merely ni nominal minal the settlers evidence of title was wag a certificate till issued to him by the surveyor stating the metes and bounds of the tract allotted to him the number of acres it contained the date of 61 sur our vey etc these certificates were carefully recorded presumably in every case came and the manuscript volumes which contain them are in a good state of preservation the penmanship is good much of it remarkably so BO and is in as easily read as a well written modern page from this record can be learned the names of the original holders of the land and approximately the date ot oi their arrival in the country the number of persons included in ilk their households is als indicated more or less clearly frona from the earliest settlement of ef the colony transfers of land appear to have been att attended endea with more formality than in most mosi of too new com communities munt in america deeds dead drawn up ij in d due ue lorm form were in almost all cases ex executed eluted and aad recorded and the result is that marylind maryland has what are probably the most complete land records to be found in any of the older states state of the union it was more or less leas a prevalent custom to recite in the deed the manner in which the grantor became possessed of the land he be was wall conveying and not infrequently a sort of abstract of the title is in the deed tracing it from grantee to grantor back to the certificate of survey issued under too the authority of the lord proprietary of course lands lande were conveyed by will and the distribution trib ution of estates ot of decedents dece deute 1 a and ud clues afforded by the records of u ede are olten of great V value lue to the genealogist much attention was given to the forms ol of law and legal procedure during the colonial period the courts bield regular no na from the earliest time and equity oases ot of every aes description crip tion were adjudicated and estates or decedents dece dents were almost always settled in accordance with established it jugal gal me mel hoJe thois and a record of the inventory administrators mesne anil and final accounts etc 9 was made la in some oases cases the final account gives given the names of the heirs but in most instances it does not toe the records of the administrations had bad under the authority of the colonial courts appear to be tolerably complete from a very early date and are in a good state of preservation in the office of the clerk of the state supreme court in the state stale house at annapolis are several manuscript volumes which contain among other things petitions that were presented to the colonial legislature by immigrants asking to be naturalized these documents frequently afford much information cou cerling the petitioner by giving the place and date of his birth an account of bis marriage the number of his bis oh il 11 d dren ren the date of h his Is arrival his bis occupation etc it was the rule fr a private act to be passed aoh such a petition in the year year 1766 1765 the rev bacon compiled all the rots acts of the colonial legislature passed from its first session till won and caused the same flame to be printed the compilation fills filla a large olio folio volume |
