[Granville-Hough] 31 Oct 2009 - 17th Century Research

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:31:59 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: 17th Century Research - 31 Oct 2009

Most people will now depend on what is available on the internet for the 
early history of their families; however, there are good and bad 
information both readily available there.  For those who want to 
document in a most believable way, the following guide is suggested from 
one who has used every reference.  Grampa Hough


RESEARCHING 17TH CENTURY AMERICA

    You can learn about your 17th Century Emigrant Ancestors while you 
live right here in Leisure World.  You can also go back to the eastern 
seaboard and study the records where your ancestors made them, but that 
is the hard way to do it.  So, this handout is for those who are willing 
to work on their ancestry right here or wherever you live.

    First, you have to get back to the 17th Century.  That's about 10 to 
12 generations for most of us.  You won't find that information lying 
around the house in documented format unless you put it there.  In this 
handout, I want to discuss a few documents and other records available 
once you get back to the 17th century in your research..

    The best records are those of the New England states.  New England 
started as the Plymouth Colony, followed by Maine in 1622, then 
Massachusetts Bay in 1630, New Haven in 1638, Connecticut in 1639, 
Providence Plantations in 1644, and New Hampshire in 1679.  Each of 
these colonies has its own history.  In 1665, New Haven and Connecticut 
became CT Colony.  Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay became MA Colony in 
1691.  Maine was put under MA Colony.

     The basic New England unit was the town.  The town vital records 
and other town records have been published for nearly all the towns 
established before 1700 in the New England states.  (Examples: 
Middleborough Vital Records and Hampton Vital Records.)  After counties 
were organized, court records became good sources of information on 
wills and litigation.  Mayflower Families - Five Generations is an 
effort by the Mayflower Society to document five generations of 
descendants for each passenger who had children.  If you have Mayflower 
descendants, these references are extremely useful, because they cite 
the primary documentation.  They bring you almost to the Rev. War. 
(Examples: Volumes 2, 5, and 7).  Another large effort is now underway 
with the Mary and John Clearinghouse.  This group deals with "The Great 
Migration" from 1630 until 1650 which established the Mass. Bay Colony 
and most of the other settlements of New England.  The Clearinghouse has 
published 23 volumes, mostly from secondary sources, but it is very 
useful.  Instead of 101 ill-equipped Pilgrims, there were 20,000 
Puritans and plain people well-prepared for the tasks ahead of them.  
Many were well educated and prosperous.  (Examples of Clearinghouse 
Publications.)  A fifth effort is the continuing work of the New England 
Historical and Genealogical Society.  (New England Historical and 
Genealogical Register).  It is this society which operates a library 
loan service which you can use. (Example).

    Some other New England sources which are helpful include the four 
volumes by Judge Savage, which dealt with the early settlers.  Torrey's 
New England Marriages before 1700, and its Supplement are useful for 
finding spouses.  (The detailed notes Torrey made and his references can 
be viewed on microfilm.  You may need these notes to document a marriage 
which he lists.)  Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island is 
very useful for the first three generations of settlers in RI.  Colket's 
Founders of American Families is useful because he references published 
genealogies.  There have been thousands of these genealogies.  
(Examples: Gifford and Tisdale).  There are also beautiful special 
studies such as Plymouth Colony and Sandwich: a Cape Cod Town, and 
Pierce's Civil Lists for Plymoth Colony and Rhode Island. (Examples)

    Now for the Dutch ancestors in Fort Orange (Albany) (1624) and New 
Amsterdam (1625).  The primary source records are those of the Reformed 
Dutch Church, written of course in Dutch.  These have been translated 
and published by the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in 
its New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. (Example).  The Dutch 
also kept good local town and court records, and these have been 
translated.  There are many more descendants of the Dutch than of the 
Mayflower.  When the English took over in 1665, they instituted their 
own court and county record system, and these contain helpful 
information.  Again, there are thousands of published genealogies on the 
early Dutch settlers.

    East Jersey and West Jersey were separate colonies until 1702.  The 
Dutch began moving over to East Jersey in 1655, followed by New England 
Quakers about 1665.  West Jersey was being settled by Quakers by 1675.  
The New Jersey Archives and Quaker Records are very helpful.  The 
Reformed Dutch Records help because the Dutch took their church beliefs 
and record-keeping custons with them.  If you are interested in Monmouth 
County, one of the best guides to research is the five volumes by John 
Stillwell, Historical and Genealogical Miscellany.  There are also good 
published genealogies.  (Lippincott and Cooke examples.)  After New 
Jersey was united as a colony, it was organized into counties.  The 
county Historical Societies are very helpful.  Just join the county 
where your people lived.

    Records for PA and DE are the PA Archives (138 Volumes) (which I 
have been told has been recently indexed) and the DE Archives (3 
Volumes).  Quaker Records have been even more helpful because William 
Penn first established PA as a Quaker colony, and DE was made part of 
it.  Colonial and Revolutionary Families of PA has good information on 
prominent families.  Shepherd's Ships and Passengers before 1683 covers 
the earliest groups.  Two interesting references are Ward's The Dutch 
and Swedes on the Delaware, 1609-1664, and Wuorinem's The Finns on the 
Delaware, 1638-1665.

    Maryland is not as well documented as PA, but there are good 
sources.  Barnes, Maryland MarriageS, Newman, To Maryland from Overseas, 
the records of the counties established before 1700, the Province 
Prerogative Court Records for wills, and the MD Land Patents are very 
helpful.  Skordas in his The Early Settlers of MD, 1633-1680 used the 
land patents in compiling his list.  (Maryland used a system of land 
patents where the tracts were given specific names, and these names 
carried through changes in ownership.  One of the ways to trace 
relationships among families is through these names.  They are sometimes 
whimsical, such as Jones' Folly, or Huff's Choice, or Richardson's Pride.)  

    Virginia was the most populous of the colonies in 1700 with 80,000 
people.  We know the names of thousands of people who came or were sent 
to the dispersed plantations of Virginia.  Any person who paid for the 
transport of another person got a headright of 50 acres.  Sometimes we 
only know that a person transported 20 people and got 1000 acres.  
Sometimes we know the names.  But the most frustrating thing about 
Virginia is that we are unable to trace back to the emigrant.  Records 
were kept by the Episcopal Church, but the settlers soon got out of 
reach of the church.  The  county governments kept records, but many 
have been lost to fire or to Civil War destruction.  One way to start 
with VA is Swem's Historical Index, which lists all the people and 
events recorded in William and Mary Quarterly, 1st and 2d series, 
Tyler's Quarterly, Henig's Statutes, The Virginia Historical Magazine, 
and some other sources.  There is a new publication, Virginia before 
1700, which is indexing sources not in Swem's work.  There is a 
companion publication, Virginia before 1800.  Greer, Early VA Immigrants 
is helpful.  Those counties established before 1700 which have not lost 
their records may be critical for you.  For lists of colonial officials, 
the Colonial Virginia Register is adequate.  Goree's Index of the 
Hugenots covers the Huguenots in the settlement of Manakin.  Torrence, 
VA Wills and Administrations covers pre-1700.  Hume, Child Emigrants 
covers the practice of sending orphans or any children on the streets to 
the plantations.  The Book of Emigrants is a current 4 volume study of 
all the emigrants from England to America. (Example).  There are also 
thousands of genealogies of VA families.

    Carolina was a single colony until 1691, when the northern 
settlements were called North Carolina.  By 1711, they were considered 
to be separate.  By 1700, there were about 10,000 settlers including 
Huguenots from England and France, Dutch from New York and Holland, 
Irish, Quakers, Scotch, and New World-born English from Barbados and 
Virginia.  Starting with NC, the state archives has the county 
information, and much of it has been abstracted and published.  
Mitchel's NC Wills, Testator-Index, 1665-1900, Radcliff's vol 2, NC 
Taxpayers, 1679-1790, Hoffman's NC Land Patents, 1663-1729, Saunders, 
The Colonial Records of NC, with indexes in Vol XXVII through XXX, 
Wolf's "Patents and Tithables in Proprietary NC, 1673-1729," in the 
North Carolina Historical Review 56(1979):263-277, and Grimes, Abstracts 
of NC Wills all include some references to pre-1700 settlers.  One 
interesting reference is Powell's Ye Countie of Albemarle in Carolina, 
1664-1676, which is an account of that part of the state settled from VA.

    South Carolina from the beginning centered on Charleston.  By 1700, 
the colony was half English-speaking and half French-speaking.  The 
state archives has the colonial records, but much is available in 
Charleston.  Some useful references are Salley's Warrants for Land in 
SC, 1672-1711, Baldwin's First Settlers of SC 1670-1700, Moore's 
Abstracts of Wills of SC, 1670-1740, the SC Historical Society's South 
Carolina Genealogies, and Huguenots of Colonial SC, and Townsend's South 
Carolina Baptists, 1670-1868.  

    (Georgia essentially had no 17th Century records that I could find.  
It was the last of the coastal colonies to be settled by English.  
Whatever Seventeenth Century history it had was kept orally by the 
Indians or by the Spanish.)

    Now, in this handout, I have probably left out the very references 
which you will need.  Fortunately there are usually several ways to 
document our ancestors.  Once you start looking, you will likely find a 
way to do it.  Remember that in the Seventeenth Century, most people 
still tried to follow what they did in the old country.  They were still 
in awe of written records, and they feared if they were not recorded in 
some Good Book, they would not merit eternal salvation.  So they kept 
better records then than they did later when they became independent.