Insights from an Expert: Tracing Your Ancestors in Colonial and Early American Times

Have your ancestors been present at either the signing of the Declaration of Independence or even before then to witness its first shots being fired during the American Revolution?

Lindsay Fulton, staff genealogist for the New England Historic Genealogical Society, specializes in Colonial and Early American research as her specialty. In this Q&A with us, Lindsay has shared some helpful resources for tracking down ancestral trees from this era:

Q: What are the biggest challenges associated with researching Colonial-era and early Americans?
These include:

Genalogists must often uncover both parents of an ancestor, particularly when trying to discover her maiden name. Too often, genealogists are only able to uncover first names but cannot locate maiden names of female ancestors – this usually requires intense “cluster study” research using original records.
Birth or Place of Origin. As 17th and 18th century passenger lists have not survived, researchers must often rely on alternative records in order to identify an ancestor’s country of Origin.
Q: How can you confirm that an ancestor served in the American Revolution?
To confirm your suspicion that your relative participated, first establish his/her possible town or state of service and check whether any Revolutionary War records exist for your ancestor there. Also consult record collections specific to this conflict such as;

Fold3 offers Revolutionary War Rolls and Pension Files from both Boston’s NEHGS library and Valley Forge Muster Roll Project for Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution as well as Washington, DC-based Daughters of the American Revolution Library.

Q: Which resources can assist in researching Colonial-era and early American genealogy? As 17th-century New Englanders are one of the most-studied ancestry groups, many resources are available at NEHGS and beyond for your research needs. My top ten resources for researching 17th-century New Englanders include:

Robert Charles Anderson (NEHGS) wrote The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633 to give readers an in-depth and documented account of immigrants arriving in New England during this period. Additionally, this text can be found online for members. Learn more about NEHGS’ Great Migration Project here.
Robert Charles Anderson’s The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635 (7 Vols, New England Historic Genealogical Society) and Martin E.A. Hollick’s A Guide to Genealogical Research Published between 1980 and 2010 provide two useful overviews of genealogical research published between 1634-1635 in New England.
Meredith B.Colket’s book Founders of Early American Families: Emigrants from Europe 1607-1657 contains an annotated list of known immigrants who settled on the East coast within 50 years after English colonization began (beginning with Jamestown’s establishment in 1607).
James Savage’s A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Displaying Three Generations Who Arrived Before May 1692 and Based on Farmer’s Register (Little Brown 1860-62) by is one of the primary sources for researching some obscure 17th-century New England families.
New England Marriages Prior to 1700 by Clarence Almon Torrey is available exclusively to NEHGS members. This annotated list (with sources) details approximately 38,000 New Englander marriages before 1750.
John Farmer’s 1829 Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England (1829, Genealogical Publishing Co.; reprinted 1964) provides a comprehensive index to early settlers of New England.
Godfrey Memorial Library holds 206 volumes plus a 20-volume supplement of The American Genealogical-Biographical Index to American Genealogical, Biographical and Local History Materials: This every name index to printed New England family genealogies, genealogical queries and answers published by Boston Evening Transcript, Revolutionary War rolls published after 1790 census, Revolutionary War rolls published since 1789, 1790 census is searchable on Ancestry.com or by requesting one directly.
The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1847-present): This scholarly genealogical journal offers articles such as compilations of Colonial New England family genealogies, transcriptions of records and how-to articles for members of NEHGS. Members have access to its text online.
The American Genealogist (1922-2010): Genealogical articles focused on New England families; volumes 1-82 are available online to NEHGS members.

Q: Where can immigrants who arrived before 1820, when federally mandated passenger lists of arriving ships were introduced, be traced?
Passenger lists as we know them today have their origin in an Act from March 2, 1819 which required that ships leaving foreign ports create passenger lists with names, ages, countries of origin and ship names of immigrants who arrived via ship. These records provide names of individuals as well as ship information.

Passenger records prior to 1819 rarely survive and do not provide as much specific information on early immigrant ancestors’ arrivals in Colonial America. Other sources can provide more detail, including loyalty oaths, settlement charters and passenger lists; freeman records or town meeting minutes may provide approximate dates as an ancestor entered Colonial America.

Notable published immigration resources (and alternatives to it) include the Great Migration series mentioned earlier:

Filby provides the Passenger and Immigration Lists Bibliography from 1538-1900 as well as John Camden Hotten’s Original Lists of Persons of Quality 1600-17. Both can be accessed for free at Internet Archive.
Samuel G. Drake published The Founders of New England; Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of Original Lists of Arrivals to Philadelphia from 1727-1808 (3 volumes); Hank Z. Jones has produced several Palatine Family books (listed here) which provide more in depth coverage.
Q: Where can I turn when looking for missing censuses or head-of-household-only census records prior to 1850? A: For your assistance in replacing these important sources.
Record collections provide researchers in New England with multiple ways to locate family members. Most often, vital record archives in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are used to locate offspring of particular mother and father combinations.

When vital records are unavailable – as is often the case in New York, Mid-Atlantic and Southern states – other sources such as probate records, land deeds, court records, pension files and city directories may provide more specific details of a family dynamic. A probated will can reveal information such as who the deceased’s spouse, children and (possibly) grandchildren were.

To locate alternate records, consider browsing FamilySearch’s probate and deed record collections (browsable only), or Fold3’s American Revolutionary War and War of 1812 pension records, before exploring Ancestry.com’s US City Directories 1821-1989 database.