Non-pay sources for New York/New England profiles?

+5 votes
188 views
I'm looking into some families (no relations) for our local Heritage Society and find that a lot of what I would need is sitting behind paywalls. For instance, right now looking for vital data on Zebulon Rudd Shipherd, a one time congressman from New York. I have a birth date from Wikipedia, the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, and a family tree put together by a descendant in the 1970's (all without a source). I have a secondary source (transcript of original records) for his baptism 3 years later, a date for his marriage without a place, a date of death from the sources above and Find A Grave (an actual grave marker). And, needless to say, my expertise is not New York and New England. He lived mainly in Dutchess and Washington Counties in New York but there are strong indications his family was from New England (parents married in Connecticutt, wife was supposedly from Vermont, and he was a board member of Middlebury College, also his possible grandfather was one of the charter members for Pawlett and Danby out of Nine Partners, New York). Any tips would be very welcome.
WikiTree profile: Zebulon Shipherd
in Genealogy Help by Helmut Jungschaffer G2G6 Pilot (595k points)
Is there an LDS family history center near where you live? If so, they have several subscription sites that can be used in the center such as ancestry, American Ancestors, and a few others. For Ancestry, they have several versions available: among US, Canada, UK, and Germany. American Ancestors is especially useful for New England.

4 Answers

+6 votes
I found him at LDS site

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KZK6-Q89

it ia a free site.
by Kevin Conroy G2G6 Pilot (245k points)
That is in the FamilySearch "tree" section and the record is pretty much unsourced, just Find a Grave and another tree. Fortunately the FaG has an image which helps.  FamilySearch doesn't seem to have much on him.
+5 votes
If you can access Ancestry at your local library, you will find several tax records for him in Washington County.

If you search the familysearch.org catalog for Washington County, New York, you will find several leads https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=75&placeId=186308&query=%2Bplace%3A%22United%20States%2C%20New%20York%2C%20Washington%22&subjectsOpen=375716-50

For most NY counties, there are images of deed and property records. Browse the images https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2078654

It can sometimes take some searching the index images to figure them out (they differ by county). I didn't spend a lot of time on Zebulon, but did find

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99W7-TPVT?i=95&wc=M7HP-HPD%3A358134001%2C358174601&cc=2078654

It's also possible his is in one of the several histories of Washington County. There are several mentions of him in https://archive.org/details/historyofwashing00john/page/n5 which might lead you to sources.
by Kay Knight G2G6 Pilot (593k points)
+4 votes
Did some additional FamilySearch checking.  It is worth searching there and also work through the FamilySearch Catalog section. Many microfilms have been digitized but not indexed so won't show up in a search.

New York is notoriously difficult to research. Records are spotty at best.

New England is much easier. If you are limited to non-pay sites, FamilySearch is your best bet. Again, some records are not indexed but the films are available.

Be creative with searching. Sometimes alternate spelling should be done. Try suspected birth/marriage/residence locations.

Also, George is correct in that most Family History Centers have additional access. Some public libraries do as well.
by Doug McCallum G2G6 Pilot (527k points)
+4 votes

There are two books listed for Shepard and Shepherd on Rick Pierpoint's Family Genealogy page.

These did not help, but they led me to the HathiTrust.  There I searched for Zebidiah Shiperd and I found the following:

SHIPHERD, ZebulonRudd, a Representative from New
York; born in Granville, Washington County, N. Y., November
15, 1768; completed preparatory studies; studied law; was ad-
mitted to the bar and commenced the practice of his profession
in Granville, N. Y., was elected as a Federalist to the Thirteenth
Congress (March 4, 1813-March 3, 1815); resumed the practice
of his profession in Granville; trustee of Middlebury College,
Middlebury, Vt., 1819–1841; moved to Moriah, Essex County,
about 1830, where he died November 1, 1841; interment in the
Moriah Corners Cemetery.  See: https://hdl.handle.net/2027/umn.31951000487691l?urlappend=%3Bseq=1608

United States. Congress. (1961). Biographical directory of the American Congress, 1774-1961: the Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October 21, 1788 and the Congress of the United States, from the First to the Eighty-sixth Congress, March 4, 1789, to January 3, 1961, inclusive. [Rev. ed. Washington]: U.S. Govt. Print. Off.

by Norm Lindquist G2G6 Mach 7 (74.2k points)
edited by Norm Lindquist

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