If you’re curious about wading into the complicated set of Rhode Island probate records on Ancestry.com, a presentation I did for the Rhode Island Genealogical Society is now online at the RIGS website:
It is freely available to the public for viewing. In my presentation, I go through the steps of finding five probate records requested by attendees.
It’s the middle presentation, between a presentation by a researcher about Roger William’s wife, Mary, and a really helpful look at World War II research.
The Rhode Island State Archives has launched a set of state-copy vital records online, available for free. These records are from the state-reporting era which began in 1853, and they cover the following periods:
The vital records in this era would have been collected by the cities and towns, and copies would have been given to the state on a regular basis. Beginning in 1921, the towns would have sent the original records to the state, and saved copies within the town. Since Rhode Island government agencies must limit, by law, access to birth and marriage records for 100 years, and death records for 50 years, the state archives does not have records within that legal limit; those are held by the state department of health, and the towns.
The pages of the state record books have been photographed, in color, for this effort; these are not old black and white microfilm images. But this record set will work a little differently from other online record sets.
To find and view the record you need, go to the link:
There you will see a master index, and the sets of books. You might want to start with the index sets to know what page you are seeking. The index takes a bit of getting used to but the key points to note when you find an entry are the town (listed by number) and the page number, as well as the year.
After that, you can pull up the record type (birth, marriage, death) and from there, select a year. The book pages for a year are presented in two ways: as a single pdf for the year, which will be shown first on the list when you click on the year, and as separate .jpg page images. The pages images are presented in order and all have numbers (and the “Sort” button up top will help you if you get in trouble) HOWEVER those numbers do NOT correspond to the page numbers given in any index, so it gets confusing to sort of guess which numbered image you need for the page you want. Hopefully you’re good at math.
The full pdf for the year may be more convenient for you. It takes a while to open. Once opened, there is a menu on the side to skip to the entries for any town. The “download” button up top – circled here in green – will allow you to download the entire pdf for the year to your own computer. Most genealogists would probably prefer to just screen-shot the page they need, and save that, or go back to the jpg pages, find the one needed, and download that.
The pages have been nicely photographed from these valuable books, and the pages have been placed online. Using them will take a little practice and trial-and-error, but this is an extremely valuable resource for genealogists everywhere who trace Rhode Island ancestors.
While you’re at it, take a look around at other newly digitized materials at the state archives.
Recently, the Rhode Island State Archives has moved to its new location at 33 Broad Street, Providence. I had a chance to visit recently; it’s looking great. Genealogists will miss the old card catalogs that were previously available for public use, but be sure and let staff know what you need and I’m sure they will be able to help you.
I used metered parking beside the building
Much more room for visitors than in the old setting.
An exhibit area, plus lockers
Some directories and many index sets for various purposes such as vital records, military, and petitions to the legislature
Still plenty of microfilm, including locally-produced indexing for both the 1865 and 1875 state census, and the readers have been upgraded.
I was recently sent a list of street-names established by the Town Council in Providence in 1806, copied below. The list of re-named streets was published in the Providence Phoenix, Saturday, June 14, 1806, page two. Thanks to Cherry Bamberg for passing on this interesting list.
In the years after 1800, Providence grew rapidly as a busy port and industrial center. There would be many new streets in the coming decades as the center city expanded in all directions.
To see maps before and after 1806
If you want to locate the streets in the long list with their place on a map, here are maps from 1798, 1803, and 1823.
1798: The above map is a snippet of one of the many maps, with owner/tenant information, in Henry R. Chase and Albert L. Bodwell’s Owners and Occupants of the Lots, Houses and Shops In the Town of Providence, Rhode Island, In 1798: Located On Maps of the Highways of That Date; Also Owners Or Occupants of Houses In the Compact Part of Providence In 1759, Showing the Location and In Whose Names They Are to Be Found On the Map of 1798 (Providence: Printed by Livermore & Knight Co., 1914). See the full book with 1798 maps: https://archive.org/details/ownersoccupantso00chac/page/n5/mode/2up
1803: The above map is a snippet from Anthony, Map of Providence. 1803, Providence Public Library Digital Collections | John Hutchins Cady Research Scrapbooks Collection To see full 1803 map: https://provlibdigital.org/islandora/object/islandora%3A56811823: The above map is a snippet from Anthony, Daniel. Map of the town of Providence: from actual survey. [Providence: Daniel Anthony, 1823] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/2011589249
A painting of Providence looking up at College Hill, 1809
For a depiction of downtown Providence in 1809, looking up at college hill, preserved on a theater backdrop curtain owned by the Rhode Island Historical Society, see this 2019 news article: https://apnews.com/article/64bcddaaf7f5413e9d5626e0bf54e699
Street names in 1806
– from the Providence Phoenix, Saturday, June 14, 1806, page two. My notes and links for further reading or images in italics.
The following are the names of the streets in this town, as the same were lately established by the Town Council.
1. The streets formerly called Water-street, King-street, Williams-street, Constitution-street and part of Prince-street, and the new street at the north end, extending from Wickenden-street at the south end, to the town line near the house of Jeremiah Dexter, at the north end, be altogether called Main-street.
2. The street next eastward from Main-street, leading from Wickenden-street by the dwelling-house of Louis Ormsbee, northward, to its junction with Main-street on Constitution-hill, Benefit-street.
3. The street from Olney’s lane southward to Angell-street, near the Powder-house, Prospect-street.
4. The street extending southward from Olney’s lane, over Tackwotton to the shore (heretofore called Second Back-street) including the street formerly called West-street, Hope-street.
5. The street from George to Benevolent-street, westward from the school-house, Megee-street.
15. This-street established in the year 1794 by William Ashton’s house from Main to Benefit-street, together with the street from Benefit to Hope-street and heretofore called Williams-street, to be both together called Williams-street.
16. The street from Main to Hope-street, passing by the mansion house of the late John Brown, Esq. Power-street.
17. The street leading southward between Main and Benefit-street, from Power to Williams-street, Well-street.
20. The street from Benefit to Hope-street, between lands of the Benevolent Congregational Society and land of the heirs of Joseph Crawford, deceased, Benevolent-street.
21. The street from benefit two hope-street, next south of the College, George-street.
22. The street from Main to Benefit-street, between the dwelling houses of Dr. Henry Sterling, and the late Gov. Hopkins, Hopkins-street.
23. The street from Main-street to the College, part of which was formerly called Hanover-street, College-street.
24. The street from Main to Benefit-street, next south of the Baptist Meeting-House, President-street.
25. The street from the Baptist Meeting-House eastward to Hope-street, by the Rev. Dr. Gano’s, Angell-street.
26. The street from Main to Benefit-street, next north of the Baptist Meeting-House, Thomas-street.
27. The street from Main to Hope-street, next south of the Quaker Meeting-House, Meeting-street.
34. The alley from Main to Benefit-street, by James Currie’s house, Short-alley.
35. The lane from Main-street by George Olney’s house eastward, toward Dexter Brown’s, Olney’s-lane.
36. The lane on the north line of the town from Jeremiah Dexter’s eastward, Harrington’s-lane.
37. The street lately established on the east side of the Cove upon the water’s edge, from Weybosset Bridge to the Gangway by Jonathan Tillinghast’s, Water-street.
For more about Weybosset Bridge, see the book Weybosset Bridge in Providence Plantations 1700-1790 by Arthur E. Wilson (Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1947).
38. The street from Main to Charles-street, over the Mill Bridge, Mill-street.
39. The street formerly called Stamper’s-lane, upon the hill immediately westward of the Montgomery Tavern and nearly parallel with Main-street, Stamper’s-street.
40. The street leading from Main-street, southward over Stephens Bridge, Stephens-street.
41. The street from Main-street near Sylvanus Martin’s, over Randall’s Bridge to Charles-street, Randall-street.
42. The street from Main-street by the house of the late Amasa Gray, northward to the Burying Ground, by Uriah Hopkin’s, Sexton-street.
43. The alley next northward of the late Amasa Gray’s house, from Sexton to Main-street, Cozzen’s-alley.
44. The street along the bank eastward of the Mill Pond, from the Mill Bridge to Stevens-street, Bark-street.
45. The street leading from the west side of the Work House, along the western bank of the river, by Steven’s Bridge, to North Providence line, towards the house of the late Esek Hopkins, Esq. Charles-street.
46. The street leading from Main-street over the bridge by the Work House, up the hill westward, Smith-street.
47. The street from Charles-street, westward by the house of Philip Martin, to North Providence line, Martin-street.
48. The street from Charles-street, westward to Fenner Angells, Orms-street.
49. The street from Smith to Orms-street, by the house of Benjamin Smith, Ben-street.
50. The street from Main-street over Weybosset Bridge, westward to Whitman’s Corner, Market-street.
51. The streets formerly called Weybosset-street, Broad-street and part of High-street, extending from Whitman’s Corner to the junction of Westminster and High-streets, Weybosset-street.
52. The street from Market-street at the Exchange Bank, straight westward, to its junction with High-street, Westminster-street.
53. The street from the westward ends of Weybosset and Westminster-streets to Tar Bridge, High-street.
54. The street from High-street at the Hoyle Tavern, towards Monkey-Town, Cranston-street.
For more about the Old Hoyle Tavern, see “Hoyle Tavern” at Old Providence. The Oldpvd.com website helps you navigate Providence streets, landmarks and buildings through the centuries.
55. The street leading from Weybosset-street by George Batty’s house, towards Pawtuxet, Pawtuxet-street.
56. The new street laid from the road to the new Hospital, and extending northeastward to Muddy-Dock, being the first street southward from Weybosset and Pawtuxet-streets, Pine-street.
57. The street next southward of Pine-street and running parallel therewith, extending from the road to the new Hospital to the salt water, southward of Muddy Dock, Friendship-street.
58. The street from Westminster-street, between the houses of Mr. Burrill and Mr. Gladding, across Weybosset-street to the salt water, Orange-street.
See more about Providence’s Arcade, the original shopping mall constructed in 1828, near Orange Street.
59. The street northward from Weybosset-street, between the houses of Thomas S Webb and Gershom Jones, Pleasant-street.
60. The street from Weybosset-street northward between the houses of Captain Turpin Smith and Capt. Bowler and across Westminster-street to the salt water, Union-street.
61. The lane called Clemense-lane, extending from Westminster-street northward and Sugar-lane extending southward from Westminster to Weybosset-street, Sugar-lane.
62. The street leading northward from Westminster-street by the house late of Paul Allen, deceased, and the street leading southward from Westminster-street, by the Theatre to Weybosset-street, Mathewson-street.
63. The street leading northward from Westminster-street, by Edward Aborn’s house, Aborn-street.
64. The street from Westminster-street, southward to Weybosset-street, between the houses of Captain James Monro and Capt. Cole, Snow-street.
65. The street leading northward from Westminster-street, between the houses of Ephraim Walker and Captain Cole, Walker-street.
66. The street running southward from Westminster-street, by Weybosset-street, by the lots of Deacon Fuller and James Burrill, jun. Burrill-street.
67. The street leading from the salt water, westward, by the house of Col. John Mathewson, and by the Ropewalk, Washington-street
68. The street leading southward from Weybosset-street, by the mansion house late of Capt. William Rhodes, Rhodes-street.
69. The street passing between the house of Samuel Ames and that of Phinehas and Joseph Potter, Potter-street.
70. The street leading southward from Weybosset-street, between the houses of Samuel Ames and that of Capt. Cory, Page-street.
71. The street leading southward from Weybosset-street, and heretofore called Richmond-street and sometimes Claverack-street – Richmond-street.
72. The straight part of the street formerly called Shipyard-street, at the northerly end of said street, together with the late continuation of said straight part, Chestnut-street.
73. The remaining part of said Shipyard-street, extending from Chestnut-street down to Eddy’s Point, Ship-street.
74. The street leading from Ship-street eastward, across Richmond-street to the salt water, and heretofore called Prospect-street, Prime-street.
75. The street at Eddy’s Point, extending southward next the shore, Eddy-street.
76. The street leading southward from Ship-street and next westward from the last mentioned street, Field-street.
Do the Providence streets mentioned here seem to run into the next town before you think they should? This map, below, displays the changing town boundaries which eventually brought some property back into the city of Providence.
As the Family History Library moves its microfilm holdings to the web, record sets are becoming newly available to logged-in FamilySearch.org users AT HOME. Naturalization records of our ancestors, including Declarations of Intentions and Petitions for Naturalization are coming online but many of them are unindexed, so will not come up in any search. To use unindexed records, look for record sets which contain original indexing on their pages, then, with a page or form number found for your ancestor, look at other record sets which contain the forms or record books.
Links to a number of record sets, for each Rhode Island county and the federal record index sets related to Rhode Island are available below. When using a record set on FamilySearch, click on the CAMERA icon to see the images; if the camera shows a LOCK, you will need to either log in or use the records in a Family History Library Affiliate Library. The links below are for FamilySearch microfilm, but note that the large sets for the federal and state records related to Rhode Island also are held on Ancestry.
It will take some trial and error to match an index entry with a record page; be sure you are looking at records for the same court (Common Pleas, Superior or Supreme) and if you cannot make a match, try inquiring at the State Archives. For federal court records (Circuit Court and District Court), the major indexing sets are now available online, linked below, and are very helpful, but for the full papers, inquire with the National Archives at Waltham, Mass.
The U.S. naturalization process is the path to legal citizenship for those who qualify and apply. The process included “first papers” or an initial statement of intention to become a U.S. citizen, followed, later on, by a final decree of naturalization. These petitions and decrees are court proceedings, so, the records are court records. Since the beginning of the United States, county, state, and federal courts have all been utilized for this process although after 1906, the federal government controlled it more tightly, but still not exclusively. All of those settings should be reviewed for the desired papers, but a general rule is to look at the court that might have been the easiest for your ancestor to access. Check the 1920 federal census for a year of naturalization (and other state and federal census years for year of immigration). Note that we may find American-born women in these records in the early 1900’s, as their citizenship was linked to their husbands’ for a couple of decades.
State and county naturalization records
Here is a guide to the pre-1950 naturalization records created in Rhode Island, and how to find them. In all cases you will need to find an INDEX entry, then try to find a petition or certificate FORM online (although those may not be available in every case). Read the record set descriptions on FamilySearch carefully, if available.
First, let’s use any index sets for state and county court records, usually sorted by county. I’ve included record sets of petitions, declarations and other Naturalization materials, for use after you have found a record in the index. I have maintained the record set names as used by FamilySearch.org even though they look a little confusing here. In some cases it will not be clear how to take the INDEX from a certain court and find the RECORDS for that same court; I would suggest really looking around and trying things.
Naturalization petitions, 1793-1958 [Kent County, “Wisconsin” – should say “Rhode Island”] Court of Common Pleas (Kent County); Supreme Court; Superior Court
The most frequent query about Rhode Island genealogy is this: I have an ancestor with x name in x town (often in New York state or Vermont), born say, 1760 in Rhode Island, and I need to find the parents of this person. Solid evidence often exists in probate (say, an 1801 receipt for proceeds from an estate, signed by person x of x town, N.Y.). Often, the correspondent is aware of this possibility but will tell me “oh, I’ve searched on Ancestry but found no probate.”
Virtually ALL existing pre-1900 Rhode Island probate is online at Ancestry.com. They do not always have every part of the probate packets (sometimes you will want to gain access to additional records on FamilySearch.org) but they have enough to identify the recorded probate activities.
But searching on Ancestry won’t work in many cases. We need to tackle Ancestry in a completely different way. A paid account, or access through a local library, will be needed. What you are looking for is not any kind of summary or data, you are looking for the ORIGINAL probate pages, records, administration/guardianship records, inventories, auction lists, packets or receipts.
Here are the steps to FIND THE PROBATE RIGHT NOW:
Know what town you want. All R.I. probate is filed originally by town, but Ancestry lumps all the record sets for one county together, and, unfortunately, almost no record set has a title that includes the town name. So if you pull up Washington County, you will see dozens of record sets with no idea which sets belong to which town. Go to Rhode Island, Wills and Probate Records, 1582-1932. Find on the screen the “Browse this collection” link in the side column.
ALL the record sets for that county will come up in a long list below the county name (see all those arrows in my illustration, above). CHECK MY GUIDE at the bottom of THIS web page, the page you are on right now, find your county, find your town, and locate a useful record set, say, an index set, and remember the name of it. FIND that exact name in the box on Ancestry that is pictured and linked above. (When using Providence, give it time, the list of record sets is VERY long and takes a minute to show up).
If you found an index book, and now know a volume and page you need, use the same system of finding the titles by town, below, then locating the desired title under the county on Ancestry.
You CAN find your Rhode Island probate! After your first session or two trying this, you’ll realize it’s all there and you’ll get used to using this guide. Good luck with your probate research.
Four additional tips:
When possible, try to drill down by town on FamilySearch.org and uncover some probate packets or books not available on Ancestry. Often, those FamilySearch records are restricted to in-library use only.
Note that some of these record sets are EARLY TOWN RECORD BOOKS – those can be helpful and revealing too.
Remember, SOME digital indexing has been done, so try that, but it covers maybe 20% of names. Learn to make use of the original index pages from the books you will be perusing.
Sometimes, if a first name is unknown, you need to go through every probate during a time period for the last name you seek. You can do it! Also, for this problem, remember that heirs were often mentioned in the ORIGINAL book index pages – look for those!
BRISTOL COUNTY [All titles below will be found in a single list on Ancestry for Bristol County – this list helps you find the title you want.]
Probate records, vol 2 and 4, 1747-1792; town council probate, 1776-1789; vol 5-6, 1792-1814
Town Council Records, Vol 1-4, 1776-1903
Town Council Records, Vol 5-6, 1903-1929
Town Meetings and Probate Records, 1776-1789; Town Meetings, 1804-1889
MISC:
A Book of Records For the Proprietors of the Lands Containing the Names of the First Proprietors Durfee and Stafford Genealogy and Allied Lines from 1600
PROVIDENCE COUNTY [All titles below will be found in a single list on Ancestry for Providence County – this list helps you find the title you want.]
Probate Index, Kappelle, Rosilda-McDonald, James H
Probate Index, McDonald, James H-Smith, Matilda S
Probate Index, Smith, Matilda S-Zydem, Simon
Probate Records, Vol 1-2, 1867-1878
Misc from Rhode Island Historical Society:
Genealogical Record Book, Vol I
Index to Cemetery Records, Wills, Record Books, Vital Records and Historical Events, Vol A [=Briggs Collection]
Index to the Probate Records, 1646-1899 [Providence]
Minutes and Acts of the General Council, 1667-1753
Probate Records and Index, to 1775 [Providence, a handwritten abstract]
Wills, Vol A-C [BRIGGS Collection]
WASHINGTON COUNTY [All titles below will be found in a single list on Ancestry for Washington County – this list helps you find the title you want.]
Charlestown
Probate Records, Vol 1-3, 1798-1837
Probate Records, Vol 4-6, 1837-1878
Town Council and Town Meeting Records, 1-67, 1787
Town Council and Town Meeting Records, 1788-1800
Exeter
Council and Probate Records, Vol 12-14, 1830-1850
Council and Probate Records, Vol 1-4, 1743-1786
Council and Probate Records, Vol 15-17, 1850-1878
Council and Probate Records, Vol 5-8, 1786-1816
Council and Probate Records, Vol 9-11, 1816-1830
Exeter, Rhode Island, death records and index: 1903-1915
Hopkinton (lucky Hopkinton researchers can bypass all this by using the transcribed records from the Hopkinton Historical Association (free!) – Probate 1757-1850 HERE).
The Rhode Island Heritage Commission (now merged with the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission) produced numerous interesting booklets about the diverse ethnic heritage communities in Rhode Island. Published a few decades ago, they are now available online.
These little booklets offer an historical perspective on the communities and neighborhoods as they developed in Rhode Island along with illustrations including some maps, churches, portraits and street scenes although the images did not reproduce well in these copies.
Each volume offers a valuable bibliography (from a few decades back) which may point out some lesser-known resources for the history of these groups.
Follow the links to the volumes, below, or see the whole set at the RIHPC website.
Although these booklets will seldom name individuals and definitely don’t contain any records, they are a guide to the kind of background and history that’s needed for setting a family’s story in the perspective of time and place.
See also my prior listing for the town-by-town guides to historic neighborhoods and architecture: A Sense of Place.
Thanks to Sara Campbell for alerting me to the appearance of these ethnic heritage books online.
