One Rhode Island Family

Don’t miss these very helpful Rhode Island record sets accessible [by subscription] on Ancestry.com (and, often, elsewhere):

1. Index to The Early Records of the Town of Providence, volumes I- XXI.  Beginning in 1633, these are early town records of Providence for roughly the first hundred years, containing many names.  Once a citation is found in the overall index, the volumes are found here.

2. Genealogies of Rhode Island Families, from the New England Historic and Genealogical Register, vol. 1 Alden – Mowry  and vol. 2 Niles – Wilson, plus source records. To see a pdf of index pages, go here.  These are articles that originally appeared in the Register.  Don’t forget to consult AmericanAncestors.org to search lots of additional journals.
3. Rhode Island Census, 1774 and R.I. Military Census, 1777.

4. Rhode Island Colonial War Servicemen, 1740-62

5. E. Richardson’s 1876 History of Woonsocket is an important book for tracing northern Providence County families. While the book is available elsewhere, it’s nice to have a user-friendly index. The same goes for Westerly and Its Witnesses about the southern Rhode Island town of Westerly.  Ancestry also holds the content of many other standard old genealogy books for individual Rhode Island families or localities.
   

   a detail from the genealogical section of History of Woonsocket, p. 217.

6. You can search a number of Rhode Island City Directories at once.

7. Rhode Island, Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890-1992.

8. Rhode Island Pensioners, 1835 details recipients of certain military pensions, living in Rhode Island.

9. Did you know you could access the Great Migration Begins articles and Index on Ancestry, from the NEHGS 3-volume set?
10. Some issues of the Newport Daily News as early as 1846, also The Newport Mercury, and The Newport Mercury and Weekly News.
    

    Granite Mills, Pascoag, R.I., from The History of Providence County, v.2, p. 582.

11. Savage’s Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers is available elsewhere, of course, but nicely searchable here.

12. Official Gazetteer of Rhode Island, 1932, helps you find every geographic name from Abbott’s Run to Yorker Hill (amusingly to Rhode Islanders, we are warned it’s NOT “Yawker Hill”.  Hey we can’t help it.  That’s how we tawk.)

13. Various church record books are indexed, for instance:  Pawcatuck Seventh Day Baptist Church, Westerly, and Annals of Trinity Church (Newport).
    

    Seventh Day Baptist Church, Westerly, taken from Picturesque Rhode Island by Wilfred Munro, 1881, p. 271.

14. You could either search, or page through Civil War Draft Registration Records (to browse, choose Rhode Island from the pull down menu).

15. Bicknell’s History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is indexed or browsable.

16. I found it easy to search the 1891 History of Providence County, Rhode Island.

17. Early New England marriages are searchable in Torrey’s New England Marriages prior to 1700.  What makes Torrey such a treasure are the sources; he guides you through older sources for your particular couple – I’m not seeing those sources easily through this site, but you could note entries and find the sources using a more modern Torrey in a library.

18. William Richard Cutter’s New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial presents some genealogical information, particularly about New England families that had become prominent in the early 20th century.  While not sourced properly, Cutter’s conversational tone is easy to read and if your ancestors are in there, these volumes will lead you to some ideas that you can follow up on.

    

    Bryn Mawr, residence of Hon. F. C. Sayles, Pawtucket, R.I., from History of Providence County, v. 2, p. 139

19. There are many vital records on Ancestry.com for Rhode Island, although usually indices only.  Births, Deaths, and Marriages are available.

20. And finally, if you’re researching in Rhode Island, you’ll want to know if you are descended from Providence founder Roger Williams.  Bertha Williams Anthony’s 1959 Roger Williams of Providence purports to help you find your ancestors among those Williams descendants.  Yours truly is not a descendant, that I know of.  Sigh.

The post you are reading is located at:  http://http://onerhodeislandfamily.com/2013/01/15/20-rhode-island-resources-on-ancestry-com/

The Roger Williams Monument, Providence, from Picturesque Rhode Island by Wilfred Munro, 1881, p. 194