Tag Archives: Research tips

Middlesex County probate records now online

News, Research Methods,
Middlesex County map 1
State map from Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, 5th edition (NEHGS, 2012)

Middlesex County was created on 10 May 1643 as one of the original four counties of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The other original counties were Essex, Suffolk, and a now extinct Norfolk – a name later reused for a different geographic region in the state.

At its founding, Middlesex County covered a broad swath of Massachusetts. The county was bordered to the north by New Hampshire, to the east by Essex County, to the south by Suffolk County, and to the west by New York – until Hampshire County was created in 1662. Continue reading Middlesex County probate records now online →

Mapping Vermont

Family Stories, Research Methods,

New_Hampshire_grants_(1776)-croppedAs part of the Society’s Ask a Genealogist service, I was recently asked about locating someone in post-Revolutionary War Strafford, Vermont. The time frame in which this person lived reminded me of the special considerations for this region, which was once hotly disputed  by New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and even Massachusetts.

The territory that would become today’s Vermont was claimed by both New Hampshire and New York in the mid-eighteenth century, a squabble that took years to sort out. In general the land grants made by New Hampshire governor Benning Wentworth between 1749 and 1764 lay in territory already claimed by New York. A royal decree of 1764 awarded jurisdiction over the disputed territory to New York, which created four counties: Albany (established in 1764), and from Albany County Gloucester (1766) and Charlotte and Cumberland Counties (1772). Continue reading Mapping Vermont →

An unexpected helping hand

Family Stories, Research Methods, , ,
Robert Muir and Margaret Lavery
Marriage record for Robert Muir and Margaret Lavery. (Click on the images to expand them.)

Tracing one’s family back to their country of origin can be daunting; often the birthplaces found on census records are just countries, with no indication given of province or county. Therefore, when I found my great-great-grandfather on the 1920 United States Federal Census, I groaned inwardly when I read the birthplaces of his parents: Scotland and Ireland.

William Muir’s parents were a Robert and Margaret Muir. As I noted yesterday, I found them in the 1860 United States Federal Census living in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Continue reading An unexpected helping hand →

Finding William Muir

Family Stories, Research Methods, ,
Frederick Muir and Mabel Lynch
The marriage of Frederick Muir and Mabel Lynch. (Click on the images to expand them.)

When I began working as a genealogist, my mother expressed great interest in learning more about her father’s family: the Muirs. While she had much information on her mother’s side of the family, which was quite large, she knew little about her father’s side of the family beyond her grandparents, so I began there. Continue reading Finding William Muir →

Cause of death: a genealogical clue

Research Methods, ,
Zachary Garceau 1
Cause of death: senile gangrene, commonly known today as arteriosclerosis, or the thickening and loss of elasticity in the arteries.

No document is more pivotal to genealogical work than a death certificate. The reason for its importance goes far beyond simply providing researchers with a date of death for an individual.  Perhaps just as critical to understanding family history as the date of death is the cause of death.

Records of deaths were originally kept by churches in the colonial period, but eventually these records led to the development of legal documents which served a similar purpose. The Massachusetts Bay Colony made courts responsible for death records in 1639, going against the traditional European model of having churches record deaths as well as baptisms and marriages. Continue reading Cause of death: a genealogical clue →

More than just names and addresses

Research Methods, ,

Emily Baldoni 1In my role as a technical services librarian at NEHGS, one of my regular activities is selecting books from our research library for digitization, and in recent months I’ve been focusing on some of the nineteenth century city directories from our rare books collection. City directories can have great research value: in addition to pinpointing the exact years that an ancestor inhabited a particular place, they often provide data about occupation and employers, and can be an especially good resource for locating information about individuals who may have been renters or temporary residents. Continue reading More than just names and addresses →

Guides for using the NEHGS collection

Research Methods, , ,

Building_exterior_night 076Back in February, Vita Brevis began posting a series of guides to using the NEHGS collection here in Boston and remotely at home. For ease of reference, I have collected them here, with short excerpts from the articles themselves.

Anne Meringolo began the series: 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 available e-books as well as to genealogies and items from our manuscript and book collections for members to use. Continue reading Guides for using the NEHGS collection →

Ideas for Cuban research

Research Methods, ,
Havana Cathedral
The Cathedral in Havana

During my career in genealogy, I’ve become somewhat expert on a variety of subjects, even Cuban research – unexpected, perhaps, but true! Research at a distance – and for Americans, all Cuban research must currently be at a distance – is a challenge, but Brigham Young University’s Guide to Cuba may be a good start for references to publications and websites related to Cuban research. Continue reading Ideas for Cuban research →

Twentieth century research in Massachusetts

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MA_towns2000
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Massachusetts is one of a handful or so states that allow relatively open access to vital information.  It is certainly possible to conduct family research after 1930 for Massachusetts using a combination of resources. FamilySearch.org provides free access to its record image and index databases that encompass records from around the world. Continue reading Twentieth century research in Massachusetts →

Solving a puzzle using family letters

Family Stories, Research Methods, ,

Katrina FahyThe value of family letters can go far beyond the sentimental, providing important genealogical information on extended family and in-laws that may have been previously unknown. But what if, when attempting to piece together this puzzle of information, you are missing its most basic piece: a surname? Continue reading Solving a puzzle using family letters →