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Puritan Great Migration Project Reliable Sources

Privacy Level: Public (Green)
Date: 1621 to 1640
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: pgm pre-1700
This page has been accessed 11,323 times.


This page provides an overview to sources used by the Puritan Great Migration Project. Project volunteers are encouraged to use these, where possible. See each source for information on where it can be accessed - some are free online, others require paid membership, and still others are only borrowable from libraries. If you don't have access, you can ask for a lookup on G2G. Additionally, for general WikiTree guidance on reliable sources, please see the help page on Reliable Sources.

This page contains a list of Project-approved, reliable sources for both pre-1700 and pre-1500 profiles. It also contains lists of sources to be used with caution, and those that should not be used at all.

Keep in mind that any source, no matter how well-researched, may become superseded by more recent research!

If you have a reliable source which you would like to see added to this list, please leave a citation in the comments section, and Project leaders will review it.

Contents

Appropriate usage

It is important not to plagiarize or violate copyright of these sources. Please do not copy/paste entire profiles or biographies and please do not upload images of pages from any source. These will be removed if found.

Instead, extract key vitals and be sure to use the <ref>...</ref> citation format to cite your sources. Thanks!

Reliable Sources

The Great Migration Study Project

The Great Migration Study Project of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), led by Robert Charles Anderson, publishes the Great Migration series and several other works covering all known New England migrants from 1620 through 1640.

Sources cited within the Great Migration series are generally considered to be vetted and reliable. (This doesn't guarantee that every claim in a particular source is accurate or accepted.)

Early New England Families Study Project

The Early New England Families Study Project of the NEHGS, led by Alicia Crane Williams, uses Clarence Almon Torrey's bibliographic index of early New England marriages to cover New England migrants from 1641 to 1700. The project's goal is to compile authoritative and documented sketches of more than 35,000 couples from this time period.

Sketches are released periodically online, and some have been collected into published books. For a list of available sketches, associated WikiTree profiles, and online availability, see Early New England Families.

Quality Journals

The following peer-reviewed journals are good sources for quality research that includes (but is not limited to) early New England colonists. Use caution with articles and volumes from the 1800s and early 1900s, which didn't always cite sources.

Older issues and index-only listings may be available freely online; more recent print and digital editions generally require paid membership.

Other Quality Sources

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850

Many Massachusetts towns have published compilations of birth, marriage, and death records that include the Great Migration time period.

The Barbour Collection

Similar to Massachusetts Vital Records, but for Connecticut towns.

Royal Ancestry Series

Essex County Courts

Plymouth Colony Records

Related Wikitree Source Compilations

Sources to Use with Caution

New England Marriages Prior to 1700

“Torrey's”—an incredibly comprehensive index of marriages—is not really a source in itself: the 2015 revised edition, which includes source citations, is an excellent reference you can use to locate other reliable sources. Some details found in Torrey are speculative or have subsequently been proven false, so the existence of a claim in Torrey isn't sufficient proof by itself. It's necessary to dig into the sources to find corroborating evidence.

Family Genealogies and Local Histories

It was popular in the 1800s to mid-1900s to (self-)publish family genealogies, and local area histories with a genealogy section. These are much like the online trees of today: their quality varies depending on the extent to which they cite their sources. Some contain accurate information, especially about people living within 50 years of the publication date, but many have been subsequently proven to be incomplete, inaccurate, or in a few rare cases, downright fraudulent. Absent better sources, these old published genealogies can be cited or included under "See also:". A goal of the PGM project, however, is to find more original documentation, closer to the time of the event being cited.

In particular, four types of claims in these early publications should be treated with great skepticism and always researched further:

  1. Specific English origins and parents
  2. Coats of arms
  3. Arrival dates
  4. Names of ships they supposedly arrived on

Biographies in Lewis Publishing and by William Richard Cutter

These and similar books all over the country are "pay to see your name in print" books. The genealogical sections of these books were written and placed in the books by subscription. (The historical sections were written by legitimate historians.) Prominent citizens were approached and submitted biographies and money to print their biographies. At least one person paid $375 for a biography with a photo of himself. The autobiographies of the paying person are presumably accurate enough, although sometimes exaggerated. Information on parents and grandparents that the person knew is also probably accurate, if slightly exaggerated. But... some of the pedigrees state pure speculation as fact. Some of the pedigrees within one volume will contradict each other. They are frequently inaccurate. The books are readily available online, so they are an easy starting place, but it is absolutely necessary to double-check every fact and every pedigree with better (closer to primary) sourcing.

Examples include Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and partial lists can be found at Archive.org and the Online Books Page.

North America, Family Histories 1500-2000

This database on Ancestry.com is a massive collection of many published family genealogies and other books. Within the collection, Ancestry's navigation links (at the top of each image page) allow you to see the title of the volume where a particular page/image was taken from.

Please do not list North America, Family Histories 1500-2000 as either a cited source or even under "See also" - instead, find the original work and evaluate it before citing it directly.

Find a Grave

If the Find a Grave profile contains a photo of a contemporaneous gravestone (i.e., a gravestone created and placed at the time of the person's death), you can cite the Find a Grave profile for information that appears on the gravestone. Please understand, though, that even gravestones may contain erroneous information. Memorial markers placed by descendants long after the person's death are not acceptable. Be especially careful of profiles claiming burial in a particular location without a photo to verify.

All other information on Find a Grave profiles is user-contributed and should not be cited. If photos or excerpts from obituaries, news articles, or other sources are included in the profile, locate the originals instead and cite those.

"Indexed" International Genealogical Index (IGI)

According to FamilySearch, "names in the original IGI came from 2 different sources: indexed records and user contributions," so if you're referencing an older IGI citation, you'll first need to determine which kind of source it used. IGI citations from indexed historical records should be replaced with a citation to the record itself, and IGI from user-contributed material should not be used at all.


Unreliable Sources

The following should not be used and are subject to removal from PGM-managed profiles if found.

User-contributed family trees

Sometimes you'll encounter a well-researched family tree that cites its sources. In these cases, investigate and cite those sources, not the tree itself. If the tree doesn't cite its sources, it can't be considered reliable.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

  • Pedigree Resource File
  • Ancestral File
  • FamilyTree data on FamilySearch.org
  • Public or private family trees on Ancestry.com
  • OneWorldTree
  • RootsWeb
  • Geni.com
  • MyHeritage

Unverified compilations

The collections in this section don't provide any information about where their data came from, so there's no way to verify anything they claim. Most include details compiled from user-generated trees and family group sheets, causing them to be riddled with errors. Use them only as a starting point to inform proper research using primary and better-quality secondary source records.

U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900

Torrey's and Massachusetts VR to 1850 are better alternatives. See also this G2G discussion.

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s

PGM profiles should always reference the arrival information in the Great Migration series and/or its cited sources.

Millennium File

This index was "created by the Institute of Family Research to track the records of its clients and the results of its professional research. It contains more than 880,000 linked family records, with lineages from throughout the world, including colonial America, the British Isles, Switzerland, and Germany. Many of these lineages extend back to nobility and renowned historical figures. In fact, one of the things the Millennium File focuses on is linking to European nobility and royalty."

Family Data Collections

These Births, Deaths, Individual Records, and other data sets were removed from Ancestry.com many years ago, but some trees still reference them.

"Contributed" International Genealogical Index (IGI)

According to FamilySearch, "names in the original IGI came from 2 different sources: indexed records and user contributions," so if you're referencing an older IGI citation, you'll first need to determine which kind of source it used. IGI citations from indexed historical records should be replaced with a citation to the record itself, and IGI from user-contributed material should not be used at all.

Online Repositories

These aren't sources in themselves, but rather places where sources can be found.

AmericanAncestors.org is the digital collection of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS). Many useful databases can be searched and browsed with a free guest account, while others require a paid NEHGS membership.

Ancestry.com is a commercial subscription service with a vast collection of digital genealogical resources of varying quality. (See also user-contributed family trees.)

FamilySearch.org is a digital collection maintained by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its Family History Library. It includes both indexed records and microfilm, much of which is viewable online with a free account, as well as a library of digitized books. (See also user-contributed family trees.)

The Internet Archive contains many digitized out-of-copyright books, and some newer books that can be digitally "borrowed."

HathiTrust and Google Books are also digital libraries - sometimes they have full digital works, sometimes partial ones, sometimes only catalog information.

WorldCat is an online catalog that also allows you to search for copies of books that you can borrow from libraries near you.

Many PGM Reliable Sources also have WikiTree free-space pages that provide multiple listings to help you locate the source.

Questions?

If you have a question about the sources on this list, or if you want to suggest a new reliable source, please feel free to leave a comment below or post on G2G (tag your post with "pgm").

Thanks for doing your part to help keep our profiles accurate and trustworthy!





Collaboration


Comments: 44

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This is a wonderful page for Reliable Sources. I've wasted so much time trying to vet all the various versions of vital records found across multiple services. Thank you all for putting this together.

Mary

posted by Mary (Brawley) Fuat
1. Under quality journals, the Register, I gently suggest rewording this: "see also old issues of NEHGR at the LDS" to read: see also "New England Historical Genealogical Register Online" at the FamilySearch Wiki.

and update the broken link to read: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/New_England_Historical_Genealogical_Register_Online

2. I'm not sure the Great Migration Directory should be listed as a source. Certainly valuable and reliable as to determining who is (or is not) a Great Migration immigrant, but I think it's more properly characterized as an Index to the reliable sources that should be used, not using the index as a source. In many ways, it is similar to Torrey's Marriages, which is also a pointer to sources, both good and bad.

posted by Gregory Cooke
Thanks, Greg. That last phrase is actually a duplicate. I replaced it with a link to the WT FSP (which is more up to date, I believe).

The Great Migration Directory is the project's primary source for determining the arrival date of an immigrant. Although it is a great finding aid for references; it also includes the origin and the arrival date which is supported by the first reference included in the entry, so we do consider it a source.

posted by M Cole
Additional Great Migration volumes include:

Anderson, Robert Charles, The Winthrop Fleet: Massachusetts Bay Company Immigrants to New England, 1629-1630 (Boston: NEHGS, 2012) Anderson, Robert Charles, The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony, 1620-1633 (Boston: NEHGS, 2004) Anderson, Robert Charles, The Mayflower Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth, 1620 (Boston: NEHGS, 2020)

posted by Gregory Cooke
Thanks, Gregory. Good suggestions. I've added them to the list.
posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
We include the comment, "International Genealogical Index from familysearch.org "can" contain legitimate sourced records but about half of the records are "...names submitted to the Church of Jesus Christ for which no historical record collection source is known..." so the true original source must be found, IGI by itself is not acceptable."

While it is true that user contributed data was included in what FamilySearch refers to as the "original IGI," the records have since been separated into different datasets. The user data became referred to as "Contributed International Genealogical Index."

See "International Genealogical Index (IGI)"; FamilySearch.

posted by GeneJ X
So, just to be pedantically clear (which my brain seems to need), actual records found at Family Search are acceptable? It's just the tree and unsupported "transcriptions" that are not allowed?
posted by Dianne Hood
Dianne, yes that is correct..........
posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
In order to be more inclusive as to FamilySearch "Unreliable Sources," might we update the first bulleted item to read,
  • Pedigree Resource Files and FamilyTree data on familysearch.org

Thank you for considering this update.--Gene

posted by GeneJ X
You're right, we already have similar language under the last bullet point but given the severe downhill turn that familysearch has just taken in their search results, we should probably make it the top source. I will edit appropriately.
posted by Brad Stauf
Brad, could you please specify the "severe downhill turn" by FamilySearch? (I've been plenty unhappy with the irritating changes to their website that just make searching more cumbersome -- as do some of the changes by NEHGS -- but I haven't been aware of a substantive change in the quality of the FS search results.)
posted by Christopher Childs
I may have to issue a retraction here, because I think it was my fault. If you search "Genealogies" instead of "Records" at familysearch, you get back a bunch of third party websites, the usually unsourced stuff that we go to great lengths to avoid.

So when I saw that a week ago in my search results list, I bet that I accidentally searched "Genealogies". Oops.

posted by Brad Stauf
Hi my ftdna bigy result G-BY197092 links me to david farnham(descendant of ralph farnham 1635 on the james) i am from norfolk england and now trying to find link ,npe,adoption between reed and farnham. There was farnhams in cambridgeshire england but not found any dna tested.
posted by Darren Reed
Darren - I would suggest posting this question on the G2G forum. Perhaps someone will have further information they can provide there.
posted by S (Hill) Willson
I've been working on my (family's) ancestors for several months. In the process I've added a large number of profiles well past the 1700s. Today I encountered the first with a birth/death prior to 1700. That person has a profile on Family Search with a large number of sources that are transcriptions of Connecticut vital records. My question. Do transcriptions of state records qualify as quality sources? I know that despite honorable intentions and best efforts, sometimes the transcriptions are in error. On top of incorrect information placed in the records, themselves, by the recording clerks. (my mother's name is regularly wrong because she gave her preferred AKA, clerks didn't always hear well, often didn't spell well, either). But still my question. Do Connecticut vital records meet standards for sources?

Thanks for your time and any assistance.

posted by Jerry Regan
Jerry,

Yes. Published colony records and/or Vital Records are generally considered reliable sources. See list above. Thanks for your interest,

Jen

posted by Jen (Stevens) Hutton
Jerry, this G2G discussion may also be helpful in defining a "primary source" (which is not always the same as a "reliable source", but helpful anyway). https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/890309/where-can-i-find-a-specific-definition-of-primary-sources

You're exactly right that a primary parish record or vital record might, for example spell a name differently than a land record or something else, and in some cases we've even seen the wrong name written down entirely on a baptismal record (for example the mother's name was written down by mistake instead of the child's name). But we would still say a primary vital record is a "reliable" source, because it was truly "primary" so it has the best shot at being correct (despite human error) compare to something like a privately published genealogy book written 200 years later with no specific sources listed at all.

posted by Brad Stauf
Hi Dawn, thanks for your interest. We've started compiling known frauds here: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Frauds_and_Fabrications

As for the others, we judge their accuracy by the extent to which they cite their sources. If they don't, we seek independent confirmation of their claims through original records.

posted by Jillaine Smith
Hello. I am very interested in this and reading up as much as I can. How can we determine if these histories of places or family genealogies are accurate? For example I have looked at The Winslow Memorial Vol 1 & 2 by Holton, The Stiles in America, The Olds family in England and America, History and Genealogy of The Descendants of Joseph Taynter. Is there a list of the fraudulent ones that we can avoid?
posted by Dawn Hartzell
Yes. Unless there is more recent information since those articles were originally written.
posted by Anne B
Hi all, would you consider "Genealogies of Rhode Island families : from the New England historical and genealogical register / selected and introduced by Gary Boyd Roberts" to be a credible source? I am assuming since it is from the NEHGR that it is, but just wanted to check.
posted by Alan Pendleton
Jaki, I took a look. It as edited by Jacobus (often called the father of modern genealogy), who left a great forward in it, admiring the extent to which the original compiler cited original documents, and an initial scan of the first pages shows references to original documents. Between those two facts, I'd say that it's likely to be reliable.
posted by Jillaine Smith
Would this be considered a reliable source:

The Hazen family in America, a genealogy by Tracy Elliot Hazen, ... Hazen, Tracy Elliot, 1874-1943. Research is extensive, and it's available on Hathitrust. Thanks.

posted by Jaki Erdoes
This site has easy to find source records

http://dunhamwilcox.net

Southold Town Records Vol. 1,p.463-466 has some 1654 on bearthes (sic), marriages, and deaths. I.e., Mrs. Underhill died in 1658, John concklyne and Sarah Solmom wid marrd the 2nd of Dec 1657. Solmom, Solomon , salmon seen in the Records.

posted by Anne X
I have the PGM sticker and have looked at the exaples and feel although I am getting the hang of getting my profiles cited and looking better I am not real good at it yet - have stumbled in with one branch seeming to be on this projects map - Swan and Mansur(Manser.etc) Palfrey were from this era/location so I will be poking about - will seek help from project managers if I see any changes that need to be made - I have projects already so just browsing
posted by Navarro Mariott
I would like to add my husbands ancestors from this period Matthew Whipple, Jr. and Robert Cross (Crose) along with my own ancestor, Richard Kimball all of whom I believe came to Ipswitch during this period. I have some of the sources documented but have yet to add them to my Wikitree information and I want, of course, to recheck all my sources.
posted by M (Kimball) Cross