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Surnames/tags: pgm pre-1700



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Keep in mind that any source, no matter how well-researched, may become superseded by more recent research!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.
- The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, 3 vols. (1995)
- The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, 7 vols. (1999-2009)
- The Great Migration Newsletter, 25 vols. (1990-2016)
- The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony, 1620-1633 (2004)
- The Winthrop Fleet: Massachusetts Bay Company Immigrants to New England, 1629-1630 (2012)
- The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1640: A Concise Compendium (2015)
- Puritan Pedigrees: The Deep Roots of the Great Migration to New England (2018)
- The Mayflower Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth, 1620 (2020)
- The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1636-1638, vol. 1: A-Be (2024)
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.
- The American Genealogist
- Connecticut Ancestry
- Connecticut Nutmegger
- The Essex Genealogist
- The Genealogist
- The Mayflower Descendant
- The New England Historical and Genealogical Register
- The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record
- The National Genealogical Society Quarterly
- Rhode Island Roots
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.
- List of all volumes of Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850
The Barbour Collection
Similar to Massachusetts Vital Records, but for Connecticut towns.
Royal Ancestry Series
- Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd ed., 4 vols. (2011)
- Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 2nd ed., 3 vols.
- Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols. (2013)
Essex County Courts
- Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts, 1636-1686, 9 vols. (1911-1975)
Plymouth Colony Records
- Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, 12 vols. (1855-1861)
- 'Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, 5 vols. (1853-1854)
Related Wikitree Source Compilations
- England Project Reliable Sources
- Scotland Project Reliable Sources
- United States Project Reliable Sources
- Magna Carta Project Reliable Sources
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.
- Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700, updated edition with supplements, 3 vols. (2015)
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:
- Specific English origins and parents
- Coats of arms
- Arrival dates
- 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!
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Mary
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.
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.
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)
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.
Thank you for considering this update.--Gene
So when I saw that a week ago in my search results list, I bet that I accidentally searched "Genealogies". Oops.
Thanks for your time and any assistance.
Yes. Published colony records and/or Vital Records are generally considered reliable sources. See list above. Thanks for your interest,
Jen
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.
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.
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.
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.