Connecticut genealogical researchers can
rely on a rich and varied bibliography. There are introductory books, general
guides, handbooks, registers, indexes, and specialized periodicals. There are
books the novice genealogist should read carefully and books the experienced
genealogist needs to consult regularly. And this is all before we even get to
the rich resource of town-wide genealogies that is such a boon for colonial
research in Connecticut.
In this column I will discuss the
general-purpose books that have proved most helpful to me personally. These are
books that address questions on locating records for different time periods,
which towns and probate courts were formed from which other towns and probate
courts, and now-extinct place names. I will not attempt to address specific
research issues, such as African-American or Native American ancestry and
resources. Such important topics, as well as town-wide genealogies, require
columns of their own.
Regardless of the "who and what," you'll get
nowhere without first addressing the "where and when" covered by the first four
books listed below. Connecticut's towns originated in two ways: by subdividing
from existing towns, and by groups of people having resettled to a new location.
As you work your way back in time, you will come to the beginning of the town
that interests you. Where did the first settlers come from? Where would earlier
records be located?
Very Useful Books
- The "Blue Book" or the Connecticut State
Register and Manual. The "Blue Book" is an annual guide to town clerks,
registries of vital records, libraries, and historical societies as well as all
other agencies of local, state, and national government. This is the best book
to use when planning a research visit or writing to towns for vital records. In
a town-by-town listing, it provides names of town clerk, hours of operation, and
mailing addresses. In appendixes it lists all libraries, newspapers, and
historical societies in Connecticut. Please note that the book Connecting to
Connecticut, is largely a compilation from the Blue Book for the year 1994,
with some reformatting. Although relatively inexpensive, this book stills costs
twice as much as the printed version of the Blue Book and is already
out-of-date. Those with Internet access can consult the Register
online.
- Marcia Melnyk, Genealogist's Handbook
for New England Research, Fourth Edition (Boston: New England Historic
Genealogical Society, 1999). Melnyk's book covers all six New England states.
She provides information about the establishment of towns and probate districts
and about the current repositories of various types of records. It includes
directions to major repositories as well as their hours of operation, policies,
copier costs, and a general overview of their collections. There is also has a
list of genealogical societies in Connecticut; researchers trying to obtain
birth information for the past 100 years must be members of legally incorporated
societies, as I mentioned in my last
column.
Researchers should note that an additional column called
"Alias(es)" has been added to the chart of towns and cities in the fourth
edition. Unfortunately, the chart is so incomplete as to be misleading and
should be completely ignored. Please see Connecticut Place Names, cited
below, for more reliable information on obscure and extinct town and village
names.
- Thomas Jay Kemp, Connecticut
Researcher's Handbook (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1981). The book
contains an excellent overview of what records (vital, church, gravestone, etc.)
are available for each town, together with FHL film numbers or publication
information. The discussion on each town also provides information on the
establishment of towns and probate districts.
An introductory
bibliography lists general subjects on Connecticut research, such as adoption,
the state archives, history, and census records. A leisurely perusal of this
area can give one many ideas.
While he was writing this book, Kemp lived
in Connecticut, where he worked as a librarian. By his own account, he drove to
each town and spoke with local librarians and record keepers. In this manner he
uncovered a numbered of under-used resources. Although the book is out-of-print
and out-of-date, every Connecticut researcher should make it a priority to check
the book for little-known resources. Most repositories have copies in their
reference sections.
- Arthur H. Hughes and Morse S. Allen,
Connecticut Place Names (Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society, 1976).
Although given to terse town abbreviations, such as WTBY and ROX, the book is an
invaluable resource for local village and community names. Unlike many
gazetteers, this book is not arranged alphabetically by geographic element. One
must use the index to find an obscure name, such as Chalybes. The index will
refer the reader to the terse town abbreviation, in this case ROX or
Roxbury.
Thus, Oronoque is cited to INDIAN and STRA, and Oronoke to WTBY.
Actually, in looking under the Indian Names section, we find not just Oronoque
but Oronoke and several various spellings of the same Quinnipiac version of the
Algonquin name for "curved place in the river." The towns listed in the Indian
Names section with regions called Oronoque and its equivalents include RID,
STRA, WTBY and WDBY, that is, Ridgefield, Stratford, Waterbury, and
Woodbury.
This book is quite useful to those confronted by the more
obscure locations given in old letters, deeds, and wills. It includes many of
the nineteenth-century post offices that are now extinct as well as ancient
colonial villages within larger towns.
Generally Useful Books for Colonial
Connecticut
- Charles William Manwaring, compiler, A
Digest of Early Connecticut Probate Records, three volumes (1904-1906;
reprint Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company [GPC], 1995)
- Robert Charles Anderson, The Great
Migration Begins, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633 , in three volumes
(Boston, NEHGS, 1995-1996)
- Clarence Almon Torrey , Manuscript Copy of
New England Marriages Prior to 1700, NEHGS Reading Room (bound in 1971),
arranged alphabetically. Although marriages are published (Baltimore: GPC,
1985), and corrections by Melinde Lutz Sanborn have appeared, the manuscript
contains reference abbreviations. A separate thin green volume also at NEHGS
contains full citations for each reference abbreviation.
- Frederic W. Bailey, Early Connecticut
Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800 (New Haven,
1896-1906). Reprinted with additions and corrections edited by Donald Lines
Jacobus (Baltimore: GPC, 1968), arranged by parish.
- Gary Boyd Roberts, ed., Genealogies of
Connecticut Families from the NEHGR (Baltimore, GPC, 1968)
- James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary
of the First Settlers of New England...(Boston, 1860-1862). The reprint
(Baltimore: GPC, 1977) includes an index.
- Stamford Genealogical Society [now known as
the Connecticut Ancestry Society], Genealogical Resources of Southwestern
Fairfield County, Connecticut...(Stamford, 1959).
- Thomas E. Sherer, Jr., The Connecticut
Atlas: A Graphic Guide to the Land, People, & History of Connecticut
(West Hartford: Kilderatlas Publishing Company, 1990). This book enables one to
track migration routes from pre-colonial times to the
present.