Important Sources for Genealaogical Research and Writing
In more recent years of my research, I have tried to document all my sources for the data I have presented here, but, unfortunately, this is a discipline that I learned late in my 50+ years of genealogical research. I urge all researchers to take the more difficult approach and to document every fact or relationship that you include in your family tree. I regret not having done so as diligently years ago.
I have drawn on many sources over the years, but have identified a handful that I feel would be particularly helpful to other researchers. Most of these are available for purchase or through major libraries. Some of the older, out of print books are available through the marvelous organization Internet Archive which posts scans of out of print books that you can browse and download yourself in various formats. (Check it out and make a donation to support their work if you find Internet Archive helpful for your own work).Many important older books are available through commercial genealogy website such as Ancestry.com or membership organizations such as the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS).
Of course, researcher of American and northern European ancestors should not overlook the censuses and other primary documents now readily available on a large number of public and commercial websites.
- References on Genealogy Research and Writing
Costello, Margaret F. and Jane Fletcher Fiske. Guidelines for Genealogical Writing: Style Guide for The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. 1990.
Hurst, Kyle. The Portable Genealogist #4: Reference Notes, The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. 2015.
Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence Explained. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Third Edition, 2015.
Stratton, Penelope L., The Portable Genealogist #4: Editorial Stylesheet, The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. 2014.
Stratton, Penelope L. and Henry B. Hoff, CG, FASG. Guide to Genealogical Writing. The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. 2014.
- Sources on Medieval Genealogy
Baldwin, Stewart and Todd Farmerie. The Henry Project. http://sbaldw.home.mindspring.com/hproject/henry.htm : 2002.
Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands: A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families. http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/index.htm : 2006-2019, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy.
Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/ (NB: Contains information on many European royal and noble burials from the Middle Ages A.D. 500-1500).
Pattou, Etienne. Racines et Histoire. http://racineshistoire.free.fr/ACC/ACC-frameset.html. (NB: Racines et Histoire also has a list of other useful sources at http://racineshistoire.free.fr/CTC/CTC-frameset.html)
Richardson, Douglas. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, 2011, Published by the Author, Salt Lake City.
Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, 2011, Published by the Author, Salt Lake City.
Roberts, Gary Boyd. (See below), Ancestors of American Presidents and The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States.
Van de Pas, Leo. Leo's Genealogics Website. http://www.genealogics.org/index.php : 1990-2016. (NB: Since Mr. van de Pas's demise in 2016, the site has been maintained and expanded by Ian Fettes and a group of other researchers and historians. It only grows larger and better.)
- American Colonial Genealogy
Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. 1995, Three volumes, Great Migration Study Project, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Anderson, Robert Charles. The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony 1620-1633. 2004, Great Migration Study Project, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England 1634-1635. 2004-2011, Seven volumes, Great Migration Study Project, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Anderson, Robert Charles. The Winthrop Fleet 1629-1630: Massachusetts Bay Company Immigrants to New England 1629-1630. 2015, Great Migration Study Project, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Director: Immigrants to New England 1620-1640 – A Concise Compendium. 2015, Great Migration Study Project, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Davis, Virginia Lee Hutcheson. Tidewater Virginia Families. 1989. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore.
Davis, Virginia Lee Hutcheson. Tidewater Virginia Families: Generations Beyond. 1998. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore.
Faris, David. Plantagent Ancvestry of Seventeenth-Century Colonists. 2nd Edition, 1999, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Kellogg, L. M. et al, Editors. Mayflower Families Through Five Generations. Various dates, Series in multiple volumes, General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Jacobus, Donald Lines. History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. 1930 (1976 Reprint), Three volumes. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore.
Roberts, Gary Boyd. Ancestors of American Presidents. 2012, The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Roberts, Gary Boyd. Notable Kin. 2 volumes, 1999, The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Roberts, Gary Boyd. The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States With a 2008 Addendum, Coda, and Final Addition. 2008, Three volumes, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore.
- Quakers and Slavery with particular respect to Chester County
Benezet, Anthony. Some Historical Account of Guinea, Its Situation, Produce, and the General Disposition of Its Inhabitants with An Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave Trade, Its Nature, and Lamentable Effects. London: J. Phillips, 1788.
Brody, Susannah Wilson. A History of Uwchlan Township 1682-1782. Uwchlan (Pennsylvania): The Uwchlan Township Historical Commission, 1983.
Brody, Susannah Wilson. 300 Years above the Valley. Uwchlan (Pennsylvania): The Uwchlan Township Historical Commission, 2011.
Brown, Francis G. Downingtown Friends Meeting: An Early History of Quakers in the Great Valley. Glenmoore (Pennsylvania): Glenmoore Corporation, 1999.
Carey, Brycchan. From Peace to Freedom: Quaker Rhetoric and the Birth of American Antislavery, 1657-1761. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012.
Carey, Brycchan and Geoffrey Plank, editors. Quakers and Abolition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2014.
Crane, Elaine Forman (editor). The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker: The Life Cycle of an Eighteenth-Century Woman. Abridged Edition. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010 (revised edition).
Davidson, Jane L. S. A History of Downingtown. Downingtown (Pennsylvania): Borough of Downingtown, 1982.
Davis, David Brion. Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Densmore, Christopher. “Aim for a Free State and Settle among Quakers: African-American and Quaker Parallel Communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.” Carey, Brycchan and Geoffrey Plank, editors. Quakers and Abolition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Chap. 8, pp. 120-134.
Egle, William Henry (editor). Provincial Papers: Proprietary and other Tax Lists of the County of Chester for the Years 1765, 1766, 1767, 1769, 1771. Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Vol. XI. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Printer, 1897.
Egle, William Henry (editor). Provincial Papers: Proprietary and other Tax Lists of the County of Chester for the Years 1774, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1785. Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Vol. XII. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Printer, 1897.
Frost, J. William. “Why Quakers and Slavery? Why Not More Quakers?” Carey, Brycchan and Geoffrey Plank, editors.Quakers and Abolition. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Chap. 2, pp. 27-42.
Futhey, J. Smith and Gilbert Cope. History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with Genealogical and Biographical Sketches. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts 1881.
Gara, Larry. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad. Lexington: The University of Kentucky Press, 1961.
Gigantino, James J., II. The Ragged Road to Abolition: Slavery and Freedom in New Jersey 1775-1865. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
Happersett, Constance, Patricia Gaines and Susannah Brody. Dear Sister: A Collection of Civil War Letter Written by Joseph and William Downing to Their Sister Sarah of Lionville, Pennsylvania. Uwchlan (Pennsylvania): The Uwchlan Township Historical Commission, 2004.
McDaniel, Donna and Vanessa Julye. Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship: Quakers, African Americans, and the Myth of Racial Justice. Philadelphia: Quaker Press of Friends General Conference, 2009.
McLaurin, Melton A. Celia A Slave. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1991.
Myers, Albert Cook. Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania 1682-1750 with Their Early History in Ireland. Swarthmore: Albert Cook Myers, 1902.
Palmer, Lewis (compiler). A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of John and Mary Palmer of Concord, Chester (now Delaware) Co., PA: New Edition. 2 volumes. West Chester: Chester Times, 1910.
Sinhad, Manisha. The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
Smedley, Robert Clemens. History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania. Lancaster: Office of the Journal, 1883.
Smedley, Samuel Lightfoot. Genealogy of the Smedley Family Descended from George and Sarah Smedley, Settlers of Chester County, Penna. Lancaster: Wickersham Printing Co., 1901.
Soderlund, Jean R. Quakers and Slavery: A Divided Spirit. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.
Soderlund, Jean R. Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society Before William Penn. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
Whitfield, Harvey Amani. The Problem of Slavery in Early Vermont, 1777-1810. Barre and Montpelier: Vermont Historical Society, 2014.
- Research on the Armstrong, Hart, Howard, McClain, and Timmer families for Such Lives as These:
Aldrich, Lewis Cass (compiler), George S. Conover (ed.), History of Ontario County, New York, 1893, D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, New York.
Armstrong, James Lewis, MD, Chronicle of the Armstrongs, The Marion Press, Jamaica, New York, 1902.
Bell, Raymond Martin. “The Family of Anthony Trimmer, Sr Who Died 1754 in Roxbury Township, Morris county, New Jersey.” Mimeographed document, 1954. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Bell, Raymond Martin and Ira A. Brown. “The Trimmer Family: New Jersey Pennsylvania.” Mimeographed document, 1962. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Bell, Raymond Martin. “The Trimmer Family of Washington County, Pennsylvania.” Keyhole, Vol. XXII, No. 1, Jan. 1994, pages 3-4. Genealogical Society of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Washington, Penn.
Chambers, Theodore Frelinghuysen. The Early Germans of New Jersey, Their History, Churches and Genealogies - with Maps and Illustrations. T. F. Chambers, German Valley, New Jersey, 1895.
Chapman, Rev. F. W., A. M. The Chapman Family or the Descendants of Robert Chapman. Case, Tiffany and Company, Hartford. 1854.
Cleveland, Stafford Canning and Jemima Wilkinson. History and Directory of Yates County, New York: Containing a Sketch of its Original Settlement by the Public Universal Friends, the Lessee Company and Others, with an Account of Individual Pioneers; also of other Leading Citizens. 2 volumes. Chronicle Office, Penn Yan, New York: S. C. Cleveland, 1873 (1976 Reprint).
Cowan, Helen I. Charles Williams: Genesee Promoter – Friend of Anglo-American Rapprochement. The Rochester Historical Society, Vol XIX, 1941.
Dequine, Margaret, Mary Ann Hoppe and Carolyn K Howard, Thomas Howard & Elizabeth Armstrong Howard & Their Descendants, 2007, Sudbury, Oho (self-published).
Dumas, Fran and Sherry E. Conybeare (compilers). Yates County Cemeteries. 6 volumes. Yates County Genealogical and Historical Society. Penn Yan, N. Y. 2008.
Egle, William H., M. D., M. A. An Illustrated History of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Civil, Political, and Military, from its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, 2nd edition. Philadelphia, Penn.: E. M. Gardner, 1880.
Egle, William H., MD (ed.). Notes and Queries: Historical and Genealogical Chiefly Relating to Interior Pennsylvania. Telegraph Printing and Binding House, Harrisburg, 1881.
Egle, William H., MD (ed.). History of the Counties of Dauphin and Lebanon in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Biographical and Genealogical. Everts & Peck, Philadelphia, 1883.
Egle, William H., MD (ed.). Notes and Queries: Historical and Genealogical Chiefly Relating to Interior Pennsylvania. Third Series in Three volumes. Telegraph Printing and Binding House, Harrisburg, 1885 (original). Reprinted Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore. 1970.
Egle, William H., MD (ed.). Notes and Queries: Historical, Biographical and Genealogical. Third Series, Volume 1, Number 8. 1887.
Ellis, F. and A. N. Hungerford, History of that Part of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys Embraced in the Counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1886, Everts, Peck and Richards, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Foley, Janet Wethy. Early Settlers of New York State: Their Ancestors and Descendants. 2 volumes. Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1993.
Genealogy Society of Pennsylvania. Cumberland County Pennsylvania Marriages, 1761-1800 - Special Publication No. 3. Philadelphia, Penn.: Genealogy Society of Pennsylvania. No date.
Hampton, Vernon Boyce. In the Footsteps of Joseph Hampton and the Pennsylvania Quakers. Bucks Co. Historical Society, Doylestown, Penn., 1940.
Henry, Marian S. New York Essays: Resources for the genealogist in New York State outside New York City, Boston:NEHGS, 2007.
Jordan, John Woolf, LLD. A History of the Juniata Valley and its People (three volumes), Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1913, New York, New York.
Jordan, John Woolf, LLD. Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (three volumes), Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1915, New York, New York.
Knapp, Horace S. History of the Maumee Valley : commencing with its occupation by the French in 1680, to which is added sketches of some of its moral and material resources as they exist in 1872. Blade, Mammoth Print and Pub. House, Toledo, Ohio, 1872.
Leeson, M. A. Commemorative Historical and Biographical Record of Wood County, Ohio. J. H. Beers & co., Chicago, 1897.
Lightfoote, Rodney E., A History of the Town of Seneca, 1989, I-T Publishing Corp., Interlaken, New York.
MacInnes, Sharon Cook, Ph.D. First Landowners of Pennsylvania: Colonial and State Warrant Registers in the Penn. Archives, Harrisburg 1682-c 1940: Master Indexes to Original Warrants, Surveys & Patents for all Land transferred from Penn. to private owners. CD-ROM. 5810, Ancestor Tracks, Alexandria, VA, 2005.
MacInnes, Sharon Cook, Ph.D. First Landowners of Pennsylvania: Colonial and State Patent Registers in the Penn. Archives, Harrisburg 1684-c 1957: Indexes to Names of Patentees in the Original Warrants, Surveys & Patents for Land Transferred from Penn. to Private Owners. CD-ROM. 5810, Ancestor Tracks, Alexandria, VA, 2006.
Mathews, Lois Kimball. The Expansion of New England: The spread of new England Settlement and Institutions to the Mississippi River, 1620-1865. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 2012 (reprint of 1909 original).
McIntosh, W. H. History of Ontario Co., New York, with Illustrations Descriptive of it Scenery, Palatial Residences, Public Buildings, Fine Block and Important Manufactories. Everts, Ensign & Everts, Philadelphia. 1876.
Miller, Theodore R. Graphic History of the Americas, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1969.
Milliken, Charles F. A History of Ontario County, New York and Its People. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1911.
Palmer, Dick, et al. Maritime History of the Great Lakes. http://www.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/GreatLakes/ : 2016
Pennsylvania Archives, Warrant Applications, 1733-1952. Harrisburg, PA. Online http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2350.
Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Vol. XX, Provincial Papers: State and Supply Transcripts of the County of Cumberland for the years 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, and 1785, William Henry Egle (compiler), 1898, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Vol. XXIII, Muster Rolls of the Nave and Line, Militia and Rangers 1775-1783 with List of Pensioners 1818-1832, William Henry Egle, M. D. (compiler), 1897, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Wm. Stanley Ray State Printer, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series Vol. IV, Continental line (continued), 1777-1783, invalid regiment, depreciation pay, pension applications, Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), Harrisburg, Penn.: Harrisburg Publishing Co., State Printer, 1906.
Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series, Vol. II, Miscellaneous Pennsylvania and Continental Units 1775-1783. William Henry Egle (compiler), Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), 1906, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series, Vol. VI, Muster Rolls Relating to the Associators and Militia of the County of Cumberland. William Henry Egle (compiler), Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), 1906, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission - State Archives, RG-4. Tax & Exoneration Lists, 1762–1794. Series No. 4.61; Records of the Office of the Comptroller General, RG-4. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Online http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2497.
Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission - State Archives, RG-17. Records of the Land Office. Online http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=3184&&SortOrder=100&level=4&parentCommID=3162&menuLevel=Level_4&mode=2
Retrospect, Cumberland County Tax Lists, Penn. Archives Retrospective Series CD, Retrospect Publishing, Alexandria, VA, 1st edition, 2002.
Schenck, J. S. History of Warren County Pennsylvania with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. D. Mason & Co., Syracuse. 1887.
Sexton, John L., History of Tioga County Pennsylvania, 1883, W. W. Munsell & Co., New York, New York.
Shattuck, Lemuel. Memorials of the Descendants of William Shattuck, the Progenitor of the Families in America that Have Borne his Name. Boston, MA: Dutton and Wentworth, 1855.
Spafford, Horatio Gates. A Gazetteer of the State of New-York. H. C. Southwick, Albany. 1813.
Stenzel, Dianne (Compiler), Genealogical Gleanings Abstracted from the “Yates County Chronicle” (Penn Yan, N. Y.) May 1856 to October 1867 (Baltimore: Heritage Books, Inc., 1992).
Turner, Orasmus. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps & Gorham's Purchase, and Morris' Reserve, 1851, reprinted 1976, Rochester, New York.
Unknown. “A History of the Memorial Presbyterian Church of Bellona, New York, Including a Biographical Sketch of Mary F. Johnson, Written on the Occasion of the One Hundred Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 1809-1984.” 1984, Penn Yan, N.Y., Mimeograph on file at Yates County Historical Society.
Unknown. Portrait and Biographical Album of Ionia & Montcalm Counties, Mich. Chapman Bros., Chicago. 1891.
Van Every, Dale. Ark of Empire: The American Frontier 1784-1803.William Morrow and Company, New York, 1963.
Verenna, Thomas. “Explaining Pennsylvania’s Militia.” Journal of the American Revolution. (June 17, 2014) Annual Volume 2015 . Image copy. https://allthingsliberty.com/2014/06/explaining-pennsylvanias-militia/ : 2016.
Waggoner, Clark (Editor). History of the City of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Munsell & Company Publishers, New York and Toledo, 1888.
Wallace, John Hankins. Genealogy of the Riggs family, with a number of cognate branches descended from the original Edward through female lines and many biographical outlines, self-published, New York, 1901.
Ward, George K. (compiler). Andrew Warde and His Descendants 1597-1910, A. D. De La Mare Printing and Publishing Co., Ltd., New York. 1910.
Wheelock, Cyrus. The New Historical Atlas of Yates County New York – Illustrated. Everts, Ensign & Everts, Philadelphia, 1976.
Wright, Albert Hazen. The Sullivan Expedition of 1779 – The Regimental Roster of Men, 2008 reprint (originally published 1943), Heritage Books, Westminster, Maryland.
Wright, Norman E. Building and American Pedigree, Brigham University Press, Provo, Utah, 1974.
Yates County Historian’s Office, Cemetery Burials in Yates County (NY), Yates County Historian, Penn Yan, N. Y. Online http://www.yatescounty.org/upload/12/historian/CemHeader.htm.
Yates County Historian’s Office, “Land Records Transmitted from Ontario County to Yates County, New York,” Yates County Historian, Penn Yan, N. Y.
Yates County Historian’s Office, “Land Records Transmitted from Steuben County to Yates County, New York,” Yates County Historian, Penn Yan, N. Y.
Zanine, Louis J., “Brigadier General John Lacey and the Pennsylvania Militia in 1778”, Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies, Vol. 48, No. 2 (April 1981), pp. 129-142.