For many living in New England during the 17th through 19th centuries, their livelihood and even survival was inextricably linked to the sea. In this webinar we will provide a brief history of mariners in New England, discuss major ports and sources of industry, highlight key records, and demonstrate how to reconstruct your ancestor’s life on the sea and along the shore.
The first Scandinavians arrived in North America nearly 1,000 years ago on Viking ships. Today, an estimated 11 million Americans have Scandinavian ancestry. This webinar will provide an introduction to essential records, repositories, and strategies for exploring your Scandinavian roots, focusing on Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. You’ll learn how to address challenges in Scandinavian research including language barriers, common names, patronymic surnames, name changes, and more. We will also discuss the historical context that transformed the region and influenced the lives of your ancestors.
There are hundreds of resources available physically and online through the New England Historic Genealogical Society and other New England repositories to assist you with researching African American ancestors. This online lecture will highlight useful collections including court and account records, local histories, original manuscripts, rare documents, and online databases, plus provide advice for searching for less obvious source material in archives and repositories in New England.
Breaking through the 1870 brick wall to discover more about ancestors prior to the end of slavery can prove challenging. Changing surnames, families ripped apart, and identifying the former enslaver are just a few roadblocks when researching enslaved families. This session will dive deep into creating a research strategy and organizing the records uncovered. We will also provide tips for making sense of all the information unearthed in the search and constructing a proof argument when records are limited. Best suited for those with intermediate-advanced genealogical skills.
This class will include the different types of record sets that enslavers may name enslaved persons (including probate records, land deeds, court records, and more). A brief case study will be discussed.
The Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged mass settlement of federal lands in the frontier, resulting in millions of records documenting the transfer of public land to private ownership. Learn how these land entry case files can assist in researching your homesteading ancestors.
Canadian baptisms, burials, and marriage records date back to the early 17th century for some parishes, though there is no central repository for these records making it difficult to know where to look. This lecture will help you understand where to find these church records as well as civil vital records which have been recorded since the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Substitutes for these church and vital records, such as newspaper records, will also be discussed.
Learn about the go-to records, resources, and research techniques for researching your Connecticut ancestors. This presentation will cover 17th to 20th century resources available at the state, county, and town level.
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, Maine (then part of Massachusetts), New Hampshire, and Vermont were considered frontier lands for the early New England colonists. Whether you are researching these states during the colonial period or present day, there are certain record sets and go-to resources that you should be aware of. This lecture will review various study projects, databases, manuscript items, and other resources available through American Ancestors and other online web sites that can assist you in researching northern New England.
This lecture researches the primary and secondary sources associated with those involved in the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692.
