Category Archives: Research-methods

Using the NEHGS catalog from home

Have you wished that you could use NEHGS library resources from home?  Have you wondered where to find copies of genealogies online?  You can do this by starting with the NEHGS library catalog. Staff and dedicated volunteers have been working to add links to freely..

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Tips for online genealogical research

I frequently encounter eighteenth- or nineteenth-century dates, especially on the migration trail, that are not cited and which often derive from “online trees,” usually the FamilySearch Ancestral File, Rootsweb WorldConnect, or Ancestry World Tree. These days, I find..

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The first year of the Early New England Families Study Project

It is just a little over a year since NEHGS President and CEO Brenton Simons came to me with the idea for what became the Early New England Families Study Project. I was immediately interested, not only because it is an important institutional project, but because it..

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Westward migration from New England

When searching for elusive New England ancestors, locating where they may have moved within New England or beyond is critical. For example, a genealogist might have traced his Michigan family back to, say, a great-great-great-grandfather in Batavia, New York, in 1820,..

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Locating genealogical manuscript collections in the U.S.

Working with the papers of so many prominent genealogists here at NEHGS, I've developed an interest in the history of genealogy in America. An offshoot of this personal research interest has been an informal effort to identify the repositories where various prominent..

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Musings on seventeenth-century Puritans

Lately, I have been reading Tom Webster’s Godly Clergy in Early Stuart England: The Caroline Puritan Movement, c.1620-1643. Much of this volume is built around Thomas Hooker’s time in Chelmsford, Essex, in the late 1620s. One of my goals is to document in detail and..

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Historic Image Search: Google vs. Bing

When working on a family history, we like to include historic images and photos of places and events as well as photos from family collections. More and more, we’re using both Google and Bing image searches to kick-start our efforts. More and more, I’m coming to prefer..

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Home from RootsTech 2014

After a whirlwind time in Salt Lake City for RootsTech 2014, the NEHGS web team is back in Boston. This year's conference felt like a big step up from last year's (moving into the larger half of the Salt Palace) without seeming overwhelming, although I personally..

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Something else inventories can tell us

My winter social schedule was enlivened recently with a talk given by one of my favorite speakers, Peg Baker of Plymouth. She and her husband, Jim Baker, are well known for their vast expertise in all things Pilgrim. Peg is Director Emeritus of The Pilgrim Society in..

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A triumph of genealogical scholarship

For more than seventy years the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire – compiled by Charles Thornton Libby, Walter Goodwin Davis, and Sybil Noyes, and published between 1928 and 1938 – has been the first recourse for those looking to trace their..

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