Last week I promised to cover some "classic" New England "town
genealogies"--works on all the families of a town or town histories with
a major genealogical section, often a second volume covering town
residents through 1850 or later. These I list below in geographical
order (authors in parentheses) with comments on those I find good and
those that are a bit under par. Most of the entries below refer to
first-generation towns in Massachusetts, secondarily Connecticut. There
are many histories for second- or third-generation towns in New
Hampshire, and some for such places in Maine. "Authoritatively" below
indicates thorough use of all town resources and a work as good as a
talented scholar of that period could produce; of "middling quality"
usually means little use of town resources beyond vital records, dates
sometimes in years only, and often confusion or mistakes in colonial
generations.
- Early Middlesex Co.,
Mass--Cambridge (Paige and Gozzaldi; Mrs. Gozzaldi summarizes and
indexes Paige, and I find her work an essential supplement); Charlestown
(Wyman, a splendid work with much probate and deed abstraction,
1000-plus pages); Watertown (Bond, one of the best 19th century works
despite its early date [1860], with both a main section and an extensive
supplement); Lexington (Hudson); Newton (Jackson of middling quality,
and A Biographical Directory, which summarizes all records in
Newton 1679-1779).
- South Shore--Braintree (Sprague, mss. [original at NEHGS] on
microfilm, 6100 cards authoritatively covering all colonial residents of
Braintree, Quincy, Randolph, and Holbrook); Hingham (George Lincoln
[dependable but not as good as Wyman or Bond]; Weymouth
(Chamberlain)--very fine; Cohasset (Davenports); Scituate (Welch, Mss.,
at NEHGS, largely a reworking of the published VRs, with no will or deed
work and dates in years only); Hull (17th century only--Ethel F. Smith
in Register).
- Plymouth Colony, Cape Cod, and the Islands--Bridgewater (Mitchell),
Plymouth (Davis), Barnstable (Otis), all three of middling quality;
"Genealogical Notes of Cape Cod Families" (original at Sturgis Library
in Barnstable, microfilm at NEHGS-- very good but short of
authoritative); Library of Cape Cod Genealogy (early 20th century
pamphlets also of middling quality); Martha's Vineyard (Banks--very
good, and NEHGS owns part of his notes, which include another generation
of all Vineyard families); Nantucket (A. Starbuck--use in conjunction
with Nantucket VRs; the two works together authoritatively cover the
island).
- Essex County--Salem (Perley--very fine, but with no will or deed
abstraction); Rowley (Blodgette and Jewett--good, but not as fine as
Perley); Salisbury and Amesbury (Hoyt, also very fine but with no will
or deed abstraction).
- Central and western Mass--Springfield (Warren, typescript [available
at NEHGS and elsewhere] --good; Northampton and Pittsfield (Judd and
Cooke in Corbin Collection at NEHGS and on microfilm elsewhere--good,
Pittsfield families treated in somewhat more detail); Hadley (Judd,
fair); Hatfield (Wells, fair); Deerfield (Sheldon, good); Northfield
(Temple and Sheldon); Amherst (by the contemporary J.A. Smith--very
good); Sunderland (J.M. Smith); Whately (Crafts).
- Connecticut-- Hartford (Barbour--good); Windsor and Wethersfield
(Stiles, often superseded); Farmington (Hart and Gay manuscripts at
NEHGS; the original of the Gay collection is at the Connecticut
Historical Society--very good, but again no will or deed abstraction);
Woodstock (Bowen--8 vols., 6 covering A-H, very good); New London
(Parkhurst, on microfilm and NEHGS, original at Conn. State
Library--very good); New Haven (Jacobus, authoritative); Milford
(Abbott--very good); Guilford (Talcott--good); Fairfield (Jacobus, even
better than his New Haven work); East Haddam (Patterson, mss. at
Connecticut Historical Society).
- Rhode Island--Little Compton (Wilbour--very good); Bristol (Dorothy
C. Saunders, founders' families only).
- New Hampshire--Hampton (Dow--very good); Portsmouth (Agnes Bartlett,
mss. at NEHGS, original at New Hampshire Historical Society, covering
mostly major mercantile families).
- Maine--Kittery (Stackpole--fair); Berwicks (Weeden, mss. collection
at NEHGS, often of middling quality).
I hope the above list proves useful. If readers have many ancestors
from one of these towns, you might wish to buy any available reprints of
these volumes (we have many on sale, and all except the manuscripts are
in the NEHGS Circulating Library).