INTRODUCTION

As a group, 17th-century New Englanders arguably are the most studied group on the planet, and thus descendants are blessed with a multitude of printed resources. Prior to 1700, the European population of the area was still sufficiently small and compact enough to be manageable from a genealogical standpoint. In many cases, town vital records, church, colony, court, probate, land, military, and tax records not only have survived, but have been abstracted and published. This guide is intended to direct you to the most relevant and useful resources for tracing your 17th-century New England ancestors.To learn how to bridge the Atlantic and trace your ancestry back to England, see our English Genealogy subject guide.

Find Your 17th-c. New England Ancestors with NEHGS
Live broadcast: Feb. 15, 2014
Presented by: David C. Dearborn
Intended audience: Anyone with early New England roots
Level: All levels Running Time: 1:03:34
Description: Learn the basics of researching your early New England ancestors (1601-1700) using NEHGS resources—both onsite and online. Join Senior Genealogist David Dearborn as he discusses key reference works, records, and databases available to NEHGS members and guest users.

HOW-TO GUIDES

Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, 5th ed. edited by Michael J. Leclerc
NEHGS, All floors F3 .G466 2012

Researching Your Colonial New England Ancestors by Patricia Law Hatcher
NEHGS, 5th Floor Stacks and 7th Floor Reference F3 .H38 2006

“Seventeenth Century New England Research: A Review Essay and Status Report” by Robert Charles Anderson in The Genealogist, 6 (1985): 251–258
NEHGS, 7th Floor Reading Rm CS1 .G392

“Colonial English Research” by Robert Charles Anderson in The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy (pp. 679–697)
NEHGS, 4th Floor Reference and 7th Floor Reference CS49 .S65 2006

FINDING AIDS

Finding aids are important first-stop references that direct you to published resources about a certain person. There are two essential finding aids for seventeenth-century New Englanders:

New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Clarence Almon Torrey
NEHGS, 7th Floor Reading Rm F3 .T63 2011 (3. vols.); 4th Floor F3 .T61 2001 CD (CD version); available to NEHGS members as an online database at AmericanAncestors.org. See also: Third Supplement to Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Melinde Lutz Sanborn; NEHGS, 7th Floor Reading Rm F3 . T6 Suppl. 2003

Torrey’s original twelve-volume manuscript (held at NEHGS) is the source of several published volumes, databases, CD-ROMs, and more. It lists approximately 38,000 actual, proven, and presumed marriages between New Englanders that occurred by 1700, including those who later settled on Long Island, New York, and New Jersey.

Arranged alphabetically by the groom’s surname, each couple’s entry includes the name of groom, with years of his birth and death (if known); name of the bride, with her years; date of marriage; place of marriage and/or place(s) of principal residence; and sources.