CensusBeginning in 1850, census enumerators asked for a
place of birth. While you can’t search online census databases specifically by
state of birth you can narrow down the possibilities. Using Heritage Quest’s
census records (available through larger libraries like the Boston Public
Library website) , search for all the individuals with the surname you’re
searching for by state, pick a county, then click on the drop down menu on the
right and sort by the option: birthplace. The list appears in alphabetical order
by state.
Church RecordsWhen a person left a parish
for another, generally they obtain a paper transferring their membership. If
their home church recorded where they were going, you’ll have a good lead to
follow. However, what you find depends on your ancestor’s denomination and if
their religious institution kept track of parishioners. My earlier article, “
Religious
Records in Rhode Island” outlines the denominations most commonly found in
RI.
City DirectoriesFollow your ancestors in
nineteenth century city directories until they left the area and you might end
up with a surprise. Publishers sometimes recorded the town and state where
someone moved. In other cases they just used the frustrating word “removed” with
no other information. Unfortunately the majority of people just disappear from
the books. The Rhode Island Historical Society has the largest and most complete
set of city directories for the state. Check their website
http://www.rihs.org/for hours and
procedures.
Court DocumentsRelatives living
elsewhere are often mentioned in depositions relating to civil and criminal
cases. You can learn more about Rhode Island court documents by consulting
New England Court Records: A Research Guide for Genealogists And
Historians by Diane Rapaport (Quill Pen Press, 2006) and by looking at the
website for the
Judicial Records Center.
Local Histories and
Family GenealogiesSearch the databases of Ancestry.com (select the
tab “Stories and Publications”) and Heritage Quest (select “Search Books”) to
locate references to former Rhode Island residents using the name or keyword
fields. Also try Google Books. A wide variety of out of print materials is now
fully searchable and can be downloaded for free. You never know where your
ancestor’s name might pop up. They might be mentioned in a church history or a
commemorative booklet for their town.
Manuscript
CollectionsEven if you think your ancestors never wrote a letter,
it’s worth casting out a net looking for bible records and family photographs.
My last article “
With Pen in Hand: Rhode Island Manuscripts” explains how to search for family
documents.
PhotographsDon’t forget to look at the
names and addresses of the photographers who took family photos. One of your
relatives might have gone west to visit a cousin and had their picture taken
while there. That imprint can lead you right to the town where your “missing”
family lived.
As the country grew, Rhode Islanders eventually
settled in every state. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, individuals
frequently traveled in groups bringing along family, friends and neighbors
recreating the feel of home in their new state or territory. Eighteenth century
newspapers carried notices about the availability of land enticing people to
move to the Susquehannah area of Pennsylvania , the western regions of Virginia
as well as closer to home in New Hampshire and Vermont. Hayes’ book can help you
estimate where settlements occurred during particular time periods. Here are
some of the states and notable groups that left Little Rhody to seek their
future further west.
CaliforniaThe Gold Rush of
1849 beckoned to Rhode Islanders. By 1850 there were at least 860 individuals
from the state living in the area with double that number a decade later.
New YorkMany Rhode Islanders moved to New York
counties such as Broome, Chemung, Columbia, Ontario, Saratoga, Schuyler,
Tompkins, and Tioga. Relevant articles on these individuals appear in
Rhode
Island Roots.
IllinoisA group calling
themselves the Pawtucket Western Emigrating Society left the state in 1836 to
settle Providence, Illinois. Elizabeth J. Johnson and James L. Wheaton IV wrote
an article, “The Pawtucket Western Emigrating Society” (
Rhode Island
Roots, vol. 12, no. 3, September 1986) that lists members and contains a
map of the new settlement. The Providence Farmer’s and Mechanic Emigrating
Society founded Mount Hope while another group of Rhode Islanders settled
Delavan in the 1830s.
KansasIn Holbrook’s book, he
mentions the Vegetarian Settlement Company (1856) that aimed under the
leadership of Henry Clubb to establish a permanent home for vegetarians at
“Octagon City.” Among the settlers were Mr. and Mrs. William Sommerville of
Lonsdale, Rhode Island. The settlement failed. A Mrs. Colt wrote a memoir of her
experiences,
Went to Kansas, Being a Thrilling Account of an Ill-Fated
Expedition to that Fairy Land, and Its Sad Results (1862). Non-vegetarian
Rhode Islanders with these surnames: Beatley, Burrow, Bush, Cowell, Davis,
Douglass, Fuller, and Pearce moved to Kansas and
stayed.
WisconsinAfter King Phillip’s War in the
seventeenth century, the native populations of Rhode Island ended up scattered.
Some of the Narragansett tribal members eventually ended up in Wisconsin as part
of a group known as The Brothertown Indians. Additional information is on their
website.
www.brothertownindians.org/. The NEHGS library has a
collection of papers relating to the tribe in the R. Stanton Avery Special
Collections Department.
Rhode Islanders went in all directions—north,
south, east and west seeking a new start. For everyone that left, a less
adventurous relative stayed behind. When you find what you seek, think about
writing an article about it. Other Rhode Island genealogists will appreciate it.