Genealogical information lies buried in town halls all over New England, locked within records such as: earmarks, licenses, mortgage books, military records, poor records, selectman's minutes, tax records, and more! "Digging" contains full descriptions of eighteen different types of records, tips on how to find and understand them, and scores of entertaining quotations from the original documents. It also lists records available in print, typescript, and microfilm.
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Editorial Reviews
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Ann Lainhart has filled a gaping hole in the genealogical literature by preparing this volume on New England town records -- The American Genealogist (TAG)
Just when you think there's nothing new... [we] are presented with an informative and inteeresting little gem like this book -- The Maine Genealogist
Such expertise could only have come by spending much time in the records -- National Genalogical Society Quarterly
Just when you think there's nothing new... [we] are presented with an informative and inteeresting little gem like this book -- The Maine Genealogist
Such expertise could only have come by spending much time in the records -- National Genalogical Society Quarterly
About the Author
Ann Smith Lainhart has been a genealogist for over twenty years and is currently the State Historian for the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. She has authored many books and articles on genealogical topics.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I expected, but a good reference anyway,
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This review is from: Digging for Genealogical Treasure in New England Town Records (Paperback)
I confess, this is not the book I thought it was going to be. I was expecting an update of Marcia Wisall's standard (but rapidly becoming outdated) _Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research_ (3d ed, 1993), but the author tells you right up front that this is a different book. New England research -- to which I came late, since it was only a few years ago that I discovered that not quite all my ancestors were Southerners -- centers on the records of the town, or township, not the county. In fact, except in Maine, it's impossible to live "out in the county," in the sense of residing outside the city limits and being subject to county laws instead of city ordinances. Every county in New England is divided into townships and, historically, that's where most of the most useful records have been created, since the beginning of settlement. The town clerk's office is usually in the town hall, but in the old days the clerk often kept his records at home; that still may be the case in the very smallest towns. Many local libraries and state archives have copies of the early records, and the LDS, naturally, has filmed most (but not all) of them. In any case, wherever they may be physically located, the town records include not only birth, death, and marriage records -- which have been covered in great depth elsewhere, so Lainhart completely ignores them here -- but also all the records that relate to the business of the town: Election of town officers, town business, land grants, boundary and border disputes, manumissions, adoptions, treasurer's records, tax and assessor's records, licenses of all kinds, cattle marks, chattel mortgages, school records, church records (especially before the disestablishment of religion), military and militia records, and especially the poor records, which are the author's special interest. Each type of record gets its own brief chapter, explaining what it relates to and giving anecdotal examples (which are worth reading by themselves). A lengthy appendix details the powers and duties of town officers, of which there were many, including Overseer of the Poor, Surveyor of the Highways, Surveyor of Shingles and Clapboard, Fence Viewer, Clerk of the Market, Deer Reeve, Salt-Measurer, and not to forget the Weigher of Onions. These really aren't as silly as they may sound, not in the proper maintenance of a peaceful town in which everyone depended on everyone else for survival. So, while it wasn't what I had been hoping for, this turns out to be a very interesting and very useful volume, and I expect to refer to it frequently as I delve into my mid-17th century heritage.
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