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History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield

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Location: Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United Statesmap
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Contents

History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield

  • by Donald Lines Jacobus (1887-1970)
  • published by The Genealogical Publishing Company, 1930. 2051 pages
  • published by The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., New Haven, Conn., 1930
  • warning: This is available with different publication dates, each with different volume numbers and page numbers.
  • WikiTree Profiles that use this source

Available online at these locations:

  • Vol. 1, Part 1 - Abbott to Bulkley (Pages 1-110)
  • Vol.1 Part 2 - Bulkley to Gilbert (Pages 111-222)
  • Vol. 1, Part 3 - Gilbert to Jennings (Pages 223-334)
  • Vol. 1, Part 4 - Jennings to Osborn (Pages 335-462)
  • Vol. 1, Part 5 - Osborn to Strickland (Pages 463-590)
  • Vol. 1, Part 6 - Strickland to Young, Index (Pages 591-776)
  • Vol. 2, Part 1 - Abbott to Boughton (Page 5 - 124)
  • Vol. 2, Part 2 - Bradley to Collier (Page 125 - 252)
  • Vol. 2, Part 3 - Colwell to Gould (Page 253 - 380)
  • Vol. 2, Part 4 - Gold to Hull (Page 381 - 508)
  • Vol. 2, Part 5 - Hull to Meeker (Page 509 - 636)
  • Vol. 2, Part 6 - Meeker to Pierson (Page 637 - 764)
  • Vol. 2, Part 7 - Pike to Spicer (Page 765 - 892)
  • Vol. 2, Part 8 - Sprague to Wheeler (Page 893 - 1020)

Available at Ancestry.com (search & browse)

Supplement:

Available at americanancestors.com (search & browse)

  • Vol. 1 722 pages, Vol. 2 1089 pages, Additions and Corrections 40 pages

Introduction

“The families are arranged in alphabetical order. Each family begins (wherever possible) with the first settler. His sons who are carried forward as heads of families are designated thus: +. Families are brought down in this volume at least to 1700, but the last generation included is given completely, so that on some lines the families are brought down to 1720 or considerably later. Individuals who will be carried to the second volume as heads of families are designated thus: X.
The public services of each individual are listed immediately after his name, before the genealogical statistics are given. Dates following military titles are those of appointment. The date of each session at which a Deputy served is stated.
Those who use the book are asked to remember that there are scarcely any vital records for the period before 1700, and that the extant church records do not begin until 1694. In consequence, the probate and land records constitute our chief sources of information. The earlier probate records are not in existence, and the first volume is so damaged as to be partly indecipherable. The earlier land records are mere entries of grants and sales, not copies of the deeds, and hence do not contain as much genealogical information as those of a slightly later date. In consequence of all this, the early generations of the Fairfield families are more difficult than are those of almost any other ancient town in the state. Much depends upon the trained judgment of the compiler and his ability to interpret correctly the significance of such records as are available. I have not hesitated to overwork the useful words, ‘perhaps,’ ‘possibly,’ and ‘probably,’ especially the last. Some relationships, while not susceptible of legal proof, I consider genealogically proved by strong circumstantial or collateral evidence, and have stated as facts, but where there has been the slightest doubt regarding the conclusions reached, I have felt that the only honest thing to do was to qualify with a ‘probably.’ ”

Miss Treadwell’s Book

Jacobus often cites "Miss Treadwell's Book" without offering an explanation of this source. For a complete transcription and explanation of this source, see this series of articles:

  • Dempsey, Barbara. Miss Treadwell’s Book, Connecticut Ancestry (Connecticut Ancestry Society, Inc., Stamford, Conn.)
    • (Feb 2020) Vol. 62, No. 3, Page 65. Who was Miss Treadwell... the Mystery
    • (Feb 2020) Vol. 62, No. 3, Page 66-86. Transcription
    • (May 2020) Vol. 62, No. 4, Page 115-40. Transcriptions
    • (Aug 2022) Vol. 65, No. 1, Page 7-9. ...Mystery Solved! by Tim Treadwell

Errata

Citation Formats

Please add your preferred citation format below, so that it may be easily copied by you and others:

  • <span id='Jacobus'></span>Jacobus, Donald Lines. ''[[Space:History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield|History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield]]'' (Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven, Conn., 1930) Vol. , [ Page ].
  • ([[#Jacobus|Jacobus]])
  • <ref name=Jacobus>Jacobus, Donald Lines. ''[[Space:History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield|History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield]]'' (Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven, Conn., 1930) Vol. , [ Page ].</ref>




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Comments: 6

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Hi Rick,

Thanks again for all your effort on these invaluable pages.

Donald Lines Jacobus' work is also accessible as a searchable database and digital images by subscription on AmericanAncestors, see Fairfield, CT: Families of Old Fairfield.

posted by GeneJ X
Thank you. I've added that link above.
posted by Rick Pierpont
Two quick items:
  1. Some sources list the time of publication of this source as 1930-1932. Does that mean that vol. 1 was '30, and vol. 2 was '32, or were the parts spread out over time such that each part that one might cite has its own year?
  2. Hathi Trust has this work available & searchable (by parts) at: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102004885
posted by Don Osborn
The Hathi Trust link is already listed above. It is the only repository that supports directly linking to a specific page, from within WikiTree. I think it was just added this past December. A long time ago, I downloaded the PDF of the three main volumes, and that is what I use now.

There is a warning shown above about the publication dates. I've never bothered to figure out the details about who did what publication and when, and how it has been split up into volumes and parts... and then we need make sure each link is properly described. This is an important publication, so this work should be done. If you, or anyone else reading this comment, wants to update this page, please do.

posted by Rick Pierpont
Thanks, Rick. I should have seen the link you mention. Would it be appropriate to have direct links to Hathi Trust's archives of the parts, as is done with Googlebooks?

Regarding the parts, am thinking of adding an indication of what family name ranges are in each of them. Only when getting into the text did I recognize the (happy) fact that Jacobus organized the material by family name, but I had to open parts to see if the names I was interested in are in one part or the next.

The amount of work you and others have already done on this and other references is staggering. Thanks again for that.

posted by Don Osborn
Don,

Yes, I think it would be appropriate to add in those direct links. I also like your idea of "family name ranges", as that would be a type of Table of Contents.

Please go ahead and make the changes you suggest.

Thanks, Rick

posted by Rick Pierpont