One Rhode Island Family

This is the page for all things that did not fit well in the other categories, but have been very helpful to me.

Archives & manuscripts

• Rhode Island Historical Society, Robinson Research Center, Providence,
• Newport Historical Society
• Providence Public Library
• South County Museum
• Portsmouth Free Public Library
• New England Historic Genealogical Society Library and Manuscript Collections. A wonderful place to visit.
• the card catalog of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana (try limiting your search to materials located in the Genealogy Department).  Even if you can’t get there, it will help to know what books exist.  Maybe your library could try interlibrary loan for you.
• Archive Grid – one place for searching the archives of:
  • Brown University – John Carter Brown Library
  • Brown University – John Hay Library
  • Brown University Library
  • Providence College – Phillips Memorial Library
  • Providence Public Library
  • Redwood Library and Athenaeum
  • Rhode Island Historical Society
  • Rhode Island School of Design – Fleet Library
  • Roger Williams University Library
  • U.S. Naval War College
  • University of Rhode Island
• NUCMC – National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections.
• Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online (RIAMCO) [note: only the index, not the materials, are online. Advanced Search points you to paper archives at various locations in Rhode Island.]

Portsmouth Free Public Library, Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Booksellers

• Allison Goodsell Books, 2528 Kingstown Rd, Kingston, RI – many standard Rhode Island genealogy series and books, secondhand. 
• Paper Nautilus, 5 South Angell, Providence, RI – a variety of important Rhode Island history books, not much genealogy.
• Lavendier Books online on eBay – a good selection of Rhode Island genealogy classics and history books, secondhand.

Boston Transcript

• The Boston Transcript was a Boston, Massachusetts newspaper that regularly carried a page of genealogical questions and answers.  That feature ran for several decades in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. It is gradually becoming easier to locate these papers online.

Church Records

• See Early Church Records of Rhode Island
• Arnold, James N. Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850. [Note: Volumes 11 – 21 contain many church records. For a guide to all volumes, and links, see https://onerhodeislandfamily.com/free-r-i-vital-records/ ]

• For information about Catholic churches:  Catholicism In Rhode Island and the Diocese of Providence, 2 volumes by Robert Hayman.  Published by Diocese of Providence, 1982.
  

• See also the folks at the American French Genealogy Society.

First Baptist Church in America, Providence

City Directories

• The Providence House Directory and Family Address Book, various issues, 1895-1935. Providence: Sampson & Murdock Co.  Image copy. Providence City Archives. https://www.providenceri.com/archives/providence-house-directory-0    : 2015. [note: see a few other directories at https://onerhodeislandfamily.com/providence-city-directories/ ]
• Ancestry.com:  Rhode Island City Directories

Court records

• request a pre-1900 divorce record, use this form at the Rhode Island Judicial Records Center.
• Colonial Justice: Early Rhode Island Court Records Project offers a small set of court records from the Rhode Island Historical Society.
• Fiske, Jane Fletcher. Gleanings from Newport Court Files 1659-1783. Boxford, Massachusetts: 1998.
• Fiske, Jane Fletcher, transcriber. Rhode Island General Court of Trials 1671-1704. Boxford, Massachusetts, 1998.
• Rappaport, Diane. New England Court Records. Burlington, Mass.: Quill Pen Press, 2006. [a guide to finding records in the New England states]
• Kent County Divorces from Court Records by Katherine Bruce and Violet E. Kettelle.   Rhode Island Roots 14:2 (Jun 1988) p. 41-50.
• Petitions to the Rhode Island General Assembly from the Rhode Island State Archives. Volume 1 (1725-1729): Rhode Island Roots 20:1 (Mar 1994) p. 5-7.  Volume 2 (1728-1733): 20:2 (Jun 1994) p. 41-45.  Volume 3 (1734-1738): 20:3 (Sep 1994) p. 87-93.  Volume 4 (1739-1742): 20:4 (Dec 1994) p. 121-126.  Volume 5 (1739-1743):  21:1 (Mar 1995) p. 25-29.  Volume 6 (1743-1748): 21:2 (Jun 1995) p. 44-48.  Volume 7 (1748-1750):  21:4 (Dec 1995) p. 118-122.  Volume 8 (1751-1754)  23:1 (Mar 1997) p. 13-20.

Geography

• The shifting borders of the state and its counties are chronicled on the Newberry Library website.  Choose Rhode Island from the map.

Immigration

• Ancestry.com:  Rhode Island, Indexes to Naturalization Records, 1890-1992
• Taylor, Maureen A. Rhode Island Passenger Lists – Port of Providence 1798-1808; 1820-1872 – Port of Bristol and Warren 1820-1871; Compiled from United States Custom House Papers.  Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1995.

Historical stuff

• Rider, Sidney S., editor. Rhode Island Historical Tracts. Series 1, 1 – 20, Series 2, 1 – 5. [mostly quirky historical topics, but check the index to series 1, found in volume 20. Access all volumes here: https://onerhodeislandfamily.com/rhode-island-historical-tracts/ ]
• Rhode Island History. Rhode Island Historical Society. [Search and access 1942-2010: Rhode Island History. http://www.rihs.org/publication_search.php ]
• Rhode Island Town Names – An Etymological Study – The Meanings and Origins of the Names of Rhode Island’s 39 Cities and Towns by Bruce Campbell MacGunnigle.  Rhode Island Roots 8:3 (Sept 1982) p. 45-50.  Continued in 8: 4 (Dec 1982) p. 73-78.  I learned a lot from this article!

Journals

• Rhode Island Roots, 1975-present. Rhode Island Genealogical Society. [To search and access back issues of Rhode Island Roots see the instructions on the RI Genealogical Society website: http://www.rigensoc.org/cpage.php?pt=14 . ]
• Narragansett Historical Register, 1-9, 1882-1891, published by James Newell Arnold.  Facsimile reprint published by Heritage Books. [See all original copies online here: https://onerhodeislandfamily.com/2012/05/28/the-narragansett-historical-register-free/ ]
• Rhode Island Genealogical Register. Volumes 1 – 20, 1978-1996. Rhode Island Families Association (founded by Alden Beaman). [not available online. Contains vital record abstracts, articles, and brief genealogies. Volume 16 “Rhode Island Will Index” is a compiled index of will abstracts contained in volumes 1 – 15.]

Laws and government

• Rhode Island laws, as of 1798, were published in book form, The Public Laws of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
• the Records of the Colony of Rhode Island
• if you can get to the R.I. State Archives, try their card index to state legislative business.

People of color in Rhode Island

• Black and Indian Sailors Born in Rhode Island: Bristol Customs House Protection Papers by Jeffrey Howe.  Rhode Island Roots 31:1 (Mar 2005) p. 91-98 and 31:3 (Sep 2005) p. 143-155. New London  31:4 (Dec 2005) p. 196-200.  New Bedford  32:1 (Mar 2006) p. 43-44.  New Bedford 32:2 (Jun 2006) p. 91-93.  Providence  32:3 (Sep 2006) p. 156-163 also 32:4 (Dec 2006) p. 197-207, 33:1 (Mar 2007) p. 34-49.
• Manumissions in Providence, 1784-1800 by Linda L. Mathew.  Rhode Island Roots 32:4 (Dec 2006) p. 193-196.
• Smithfield, R.I. Manumissions: Glasco, Jenne, and Their Children by Charlotte Scozzafava.  Rhode Island Roots 34:2 (Jun 2008) : p. 98-101.
• Free People of Color in the 1825 Census of Providence, R.I. by Jeffrey Howe.  Rhode Island Roots 36:1 (Mar 2010) p. 26-32.
• Men of Color in the R.I. Regimental Book for 1781 by Bruce C. MacGunnigle. Part One: Piracy and Piety in Newport Rhode Island Roots 38:4 (Dec 2012) : p. 206.
• Blacks in the 1774 Census of Rhode Island by David Lambert.  Rhode Island Roots 22:3 (Sep 1996) p. 90-94.

Photography

• Checklist of R.I. Photographers from City Directories by Stephen P. Gross. This project was introduced in 33:2 (Jun 2007) p. 101-105.  [This series was continued for several years and covered many R.I. cities and towns, as an aid to those trying to identify a photograph.]

Records of the poor

• Herndon, Ruth Wallis. Unwelcome Americans (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001).
• Smithfield’s Town Poor, 1850 by Elizabeth J. Johnson and Roger D. Joslyn.  Rhode Island Roots 15:1 (Mar 1989) : p. 22-23.  [by combining information from an 1850 printed book, identifying inmates in R.I. poor farms by initials only, with the 1850 federal census that provides names of inmates, the authors compiled of list of “cause of poverty” and “birthplace” for each inmate, and suggested the procedure could work for all Rhode Island poor farms in 1850.  A great idea.]
• Burial Records from the State Institutions at Howard by Florence Patenaude.  Rhode Island Roots 24:1/2 (Mar/Jun 1998) p. 71-110. Continued in 24: 3/4 (Sep/Dec 1998) p. 191-258.  24:1 (Mar 1999) p. 24-35.  25:2 (Jun 1999) p. 51-71.  26:3 (Sep 2000) p. 19-41. See additional note 27:1 (Mar 2001) p. 46.
• Indentures at the Dexter Asylum, 1828-1844 by Maureen Taylor.  Rhode Island Roots 22:3 (Sep 1996) p. 68-70.
• State Farm Records: Abstracts, 1871-1872 by Jean Therrien.  Rhode Island Roots 23:2 (Jun 1997) : p. 51-56.  23:3 (Sep 1997) p. 76-79.  23:4 (Dec 1997) p. 112-115.  25:1 (Mar 1999) p. 17-20.
• Deaths from the Bills of the Overseers of the Poor, Richmond, Rhode Island, 1820-1850 by Vera M. Robinson.  Rhode Island Roots 29:2 (Jun 2003) p. 87-88.  See addenda 29:3 (Sep 2003) p. 161.
• Residency Certificates from the Warwick Archives by Cherry Fletcher Bamberg.  Rhode Island Roots 31:1 (Mar 2005) p. 32-39.
• Some Northern Rhode Island Men Unable to Equip Themselves as Required by Law, 1776 by Linda L. Mathew.  Rhode Island Roots 33:2 (Jun 2007) p. 106-110.  See also Exeter and Richmond 35:1 (Mar 2009) p. 34-37. North Kingstown 37:3 (Sep 2011) p. 142.
• Notes on Deaths at the Smithfield Town Farm and Asylum, 1865-1870 by Mickey Finn-Jordan.  Rhode Island Roots 41:4 (Dec 2015) : p. 191-200.

In closing

I will be updating this material from time to time.  Thanks for your patience as I put these posts together.  I wish you a lot of success with your Rhode Island research!

Slater Mill, first cotton mill in the United States, Pawtucket, R.I. Library of Congress LC-USZ62-116492

Find the rest of the 8 WEEKS TO BETTER RHODE ISLAND GENEALOGY RESEARCH series:

1. Week 1 – Vital Records
2. Week 2 – Census Records
3. Week 3 – Probate & Cemeteries
4. Week 4 – Maps & Deeds
5. Week 5 – Town Records, Histories, and Newspapers
6. Week 6 – Published Family Genealogies
7. Week 7 – Military and Pensions
8. Week 8 – Everything Else

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