Catalog of Lectures

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.

As in much of genealogy, you must rely on multiple records and strategies to piece together your ancestor’s life. This is especially true for tracing ancestors on the move. This  class will provide some essential strategies and research tools to understand your ancestor’s movements, providing several practical examples and case studies along the way. 

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.

Researching African American ancestors can be challenging, especially when trying to break through the 1870 brick wall to discover more about ancestors prior to the end of slavery. In this presentation, we will discuss go-to records and demonstrate creative search strategies for piecing together your family history.  

This lecture researches the primary and secondary sources associated with those involved in the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692.