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.
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.
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.
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!
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.]
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:
If there’s one thing I’ve realized since I’ve started genealogy, it’s that once you get to military records, you find two wonderful things:
That there is a large contingent of people spending their lives documenting military history – collecting interesting stuff (instead of tossing it), making maps, finding photographs, displaying artifacts, preserving graves, and writing books. As genealogists, we suddenly feel like we have partners and colleagues working away on our ancestors. Hurray for that.
That the documents you may find in the military sector can be far more revealing than just about anything else.
So our job as genealogists is to use all of this great work to give us clues about where to find records.
Rhode Island’s own General Nathanael Greene. His homestead is preserved, see http://www.nathanaelgreenehomestead.org. Copy of mezzotint by Valentine Greene, executed by J. Brown after Peale.
Finding pre-1875 military records for Rhode Island veterans
I am no expert in any of this so I will give some helpful links here and I hope they will be useful. One thing I should say is that for every war that ever affected Rhode Island, there are experts. They may sometimes be hobbyists and their information may be broadcast in unusual ways. Be on the lookout for blogs, particularly blogs written by small groups or organizations, and self-published books. You may find some good leads.
Finding your ancestor’s name may be fairly easy. Finding their story is going to take a lot of digging. Think also of archives, manuscripts, veterans groups, lineage societies, biographical works, and local historical societies.
Small State Big History is good example of a site where some fascinating historical work is being recorded.
Early wars
King Philip’s War, 1675-1678. Although initially hoping to avoid military engagements with the Narragansetts, Rhode Island did eventually become embroiled in King Philip’s War. Craig Anthony has written some books about Rhode Island’s (and the Tefft family in particular) involvement in a horrific assault that occurred in southern Rhode Island called “The Great Swamp Fight.” After the war, land in East Greenwich, Rhode Island was offered to a group of veterans (see the History of East Greenwich), and nearby Voluntown, Connecticut was founded to distribute land to veterans. I usually refer to Soldiers in King Philip’s War by George M. Bodge for information about the war itself, but no doubt better modern sources are available.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Painting in oils by W. Nowland Van Powell – Naval Historical Center Photo # NH 85201-KN
Rhode Island sent many soldiers to the war. Newport was occupied by the British from late 1776 to 1779, resulting in a severe disruption to the rising importance of Newport, and the eventual emergence of Providence as the center of manufacturing, education and government, although that emergence grew slowly over the next hundred years.
A partial list of resources:
Rhode Island in the American Revolution by Eric G. Grundset – a recent bibliography of resources for the late colonial period. This is a must-see – Mr. Grundset will point to numerous record sets that will help you research your ancestor’s service.
Benjamin Cowell’sSpirit of 76 in Rhode Island.Mr. Cowell was instrumental in helping the old soldiers obtain the pensions granted to them by Congress in the 1830’s. He personally heard their stories, and the stories of officers, friends and neighbors who served. By 1850, he had put together this book, listing some very brief service records, wishing that he could make an even more complete report. In my experience, if your ancestor is listed here, keep seeking further service records because he usually only listed a portion. James Arnold provided an index to Cowell in volume 12 of his Vital Record of Rhode Island.
Revolutionary War Indexat the Rhode Island State Archives. A slip index of notations for RW soldiers mentioned in various resources at several Rhode Island repositories. Each slip will give an abbreviated citation back to the source. Some soldiers have one or two slips, some have dozens. This is only on paper as far as I know.
Slips in the Revolutionary War index file for my ancestor Richard Ballou.
Rhode Island Historical Society has a Revolutionary War index as well; it often leads to original payrolls or reports in their manuscript collection. See also this finding aid.
Fold3.com contains many military records, especially for federal government units. It also contains valuable pension records.
Rhode Island Loyalistsby Paul J. Bunnell. Rhode Island Roots 25:1 (Mar 1999) p. 21-23.
Fold3.com is building a set of digital pension records from the National Archives. My relative, named Ballou, was in there, but for letters farther down the alphabet, the set is not yet finished.
A marriage record found in a pension file. From the War of 1812 pension file of Augustus Ballou, Fold3.com.
Mexican War 1846-1848
The most valuable pension record I have ever found for my family, a 96-page document that unlocked the secrets of my gg-grandmother’s birth, was from a Mexican War pension. I had to order it from the National Archives. Try starting on Fold3.com in the Mexican War section, to see if some record may exist. I have now found two Mexican War pensions that were very helpful.
Civil War 1861-1865
Like many Americans, I have relatives on both sides of this war thanks to my Yankee ancestor who got the bright idea to start a business in Alabama in 1852. That did not work out well, but his sons joined the Alabama militia in 1861.
There are, of course, hundreds of possible sources. People are still working on this history and still publishing. Always check for new work. Just as one example, see this essay by Robert Grandchamp and also his book Rhode Island and the Civil War: Voices from the Ocean State and Frank Grzyb’s Hidden History of Rhode Island and the Civil War.
Fold3.com has many records. Ancestry.com has a surprisingly large set of records, and more and more books are finding their way into Ancestry’s records.
The Providence Public Library holds some regimental histories and other materials. Always look for a regimental history; many were published.
Intrepid FindAGrave.com contributor Jen Snoots has a Civil War virtual cemetery for Rhode Island built at Findagrave.com.
This was the first war with photographs (see further information here from Maureen Taylor) and artistic renderings meant for publication. Also, some casualty reports were printed in newspapers. These should be sought for the particular person being researched.
The R.I. state census of 1865 asked about military service. It is available at Ancestry.com. See my previous 8 Weeks post on census records.
I like this website for the East Greenwich Kentish Guards. Looking for smaller websites is worthwhile.
The dedication of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Providence in 1871 was a very moving day. See “Proceedings at the Dedication of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Providence” to which is appended a list of the deceased soldiers and sailors whose names are sculptured upon the monument. (Providence: A Crawford Greene, Printer to the State, 1871).
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, Providence. Photo by Diane Boumenot.
For later wars, even more information should be available through Ancestry.com and Fold3.com. The digital availability of pension records expands all the time; check online first but then order the full record from the National Archives link near the top of this post.
There are eight weeks of helpful advice and links:
Published compiled genealogies, whether they be books or journal articles, can move our genealogy forward by leaps and bounds. If the material is of poor quality, though, and if we accept it at face value and don’t pursue the research ourselves, it can jeopardize all our future work, sending us down the wrong roads and setting us up to build tree sections that are completely false. If you think about it, there is only one correct family tree for any of us; only one true sequence of events that led to the unique people we are. There is no “close” in genealogy. There is “correct” and “incorrect.” Which is not to say we should or could expect to ever know the full truth, going back a dozen or more generations; there are so many reasons why some “truth” just will not be found by us. But for the parts of the tree we are able to build, we as genealogists want them to be correct.
Published family genealogies – Books
I think one of the first things New England genealogists find are those family genealogies published in the late 1800’s. Googling the name, such as “Ballou genealogy” or “Ballou genealogy book” will usually pull up a pdf of the item, if it exists. My advice would be to download and save such books in folders on your computer, if they relate to your family, and always use the “Comments” feature in Acrobat Reader to mark each page that is significant to you. See more about searching for books on How to Build your Digital Library.
The quality of the genealogy in these books may be excellent, or very poor, and everything in between. My own judgment is that reported events and relationships that occurred within about 60 – 70 years of the publication date have a good chance of being true (or as true as the family wanted to put out there). Events farther back are often:
limited to well-documented, wealthier branches who left behind lots of records, such as vital records, probate, and large and informative gravestones
clustered mostly in the branch and geographic location that the author had access to, or had contacts in
dependent on the genealogical expertise of the author, so look around for evidence of that.
A good genealogist like Adin Ballou (An Elaborate History and Genealogy of theBallou Family in America, 1888) may not have used proper footnotes (it was not the custom at the time) but he sprinkled every page with clues as to the sources of his information – deed books with page numbers, dates of probate documents, and many statements like “birth date not found.” If you use data from these books in your tree, always follow up by checking for the records used.
When using these books, always check around for supplements, addenda, and later corrections.
QUICK FACT – When approaching an indexed family genealogy for the first time, seeking information about a couple, a good shortcut is to search for the last name of the spouse instead of the person who holds the name featured in the book (there will be too many of those).
Wait, there are more books
Sadly, the search described above is where many genealogists leave off. Therefore, they miss the thousands of genealogy books, also of varied quality, published since 1923 and, in some cases, still under copyright. A book under copyright will seldom be found as a pdf online. It might be for sale somewhere, it might show up as a Google Book in which only a bit of searching is possible (no pdf available), or, more likely, it is sitting on a few library shelves here and there.
I’m not going to provide a master list of books on Rhode Island families, much as I would like to, and I may try that someday. But here is how I approach this problem.
To compile a list of books that have been published on your family names, try the googling mentioned above, then try these steps:
Check out the online card catalog of the Rhode Island Historical Society’s Robinson Research Center. They have lots of compiled genealogies there. Try, for instance, Advanced Search for the subject “Ballou Family.” This catalog does not cover everything at the library.
Try the card catalog of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. They have a Search Databases function, for members, but anyone can use the “Library Catalog” under “Search.”
Always use WorldCat.org to search as well; each entry will come up with the libraries that hold the book, sorted by distance from you.
Searching for “Ballou family” in the Ocean State public library catalog. The entry will tell you which Rhode Island libraries that hold the book.
My best advice for finding ALL the genealogies published on a certain Rhode Island family is to consult this book:
Guide to Published Genealogies in the Library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston: NEHGS, 2012). I use this book a lot. No doubt the NEHGS online catalog, linked above, would provide similar information, but I find the book format very easy to follow.
Guide to Published Genealogies has a large alphabetical guide to family history books as well as a guide to town and local histories. Photo by Diane Boumenot.
Compiled genealogy sets covering many families
There are books which serve as guides to the literature of your family’s genealogy, or overviews of the genealogies of large areas.
The most important:John O. Austin’s The Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island; Comprising three generations of Settlers who came before 1690. I strongly recommend NOT using an older version of this; you need the 1968 or later version with corrections, published by Genealogical Publishing Company. This large black book is printed as a marked-up copy, providing references to all The American Genealogist articles correcting and expanding Austin’s work.
The Bennett entry in Austin’s Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island. This is the way the book was printed. I know. It’s weird.
For the earliest settlers
It’s easy to forget that standard New England works will, of course, cover early Rhode Island families. First and foremost, try your early families, arriving 1620-1640, in The Great Migration Study Project (by Robert Charles Anderson and others) including The Great Migration Begins (3 volumes) and The Great Migration (7 volumes) (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1995-2011.)
For a reasonably priced way to access brief bibliographies of the settlers detailed in the 10 volumes of the Great Migration series, try The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1640, A Concise Compendium by Robert Charles Anderson (Boston, NEHGS, 2015).Another choice would be to access some of the material online through NEHGS membership – use Database Search – Category: Great Migration Study Project.
The Great Migration series and Directory. Photo by Diane Boumenot.
Austin, John Osborne. One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families. Baltimore: reprinted Genealogical Publishing Co., 2009. [note: This was never that useful to me; it covers the author’s, and the author’s wife’s, families only.]
Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, in four volumes. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, Inc., 1998 (orig. 1860-62). The Great Migration is far superior to this source, and if you can use that, no need to consult Savage.
Cutter, William Richard. Not much better than mug books, with lines of descent traced only to wealthy southern New Englanders, but still, I have a soft spot for Cutter. The entries are always fun to read and very interesting, but unsubstantiated.
New England families, genealogical and memorial; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of commonwealths and the founding of a nation. Four vols. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1915.
Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Volumes 1 – 3. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011. [Torrey is essentially a bibliography of any mention of the married couple in various older sources. Consult the sources noted for specifics. Use the most recent edition of Torrey available to benefit from modern additions, corrections and proper indexing.]
Journals and periodicals
Have you ever thought, I wish I could hire one of the country’s top experts to find that elusive ancestor for me? Have you ever considered that you could possibly get such work for free? Here’s how. Do a thorough search of all the genealogy journals that cover the area in question. You need to be sure that your important question has not already been researched by someone really competent, complete with reasoned arguments and footnotes. Even finding an article in a quality journal about the county or town you are researching can be a treasure-trove of sources and strategies. I always read the footnotes first.
Most organizations do not give their journal away online. You need to belong to that society, or subscribe to something that will offer access, or seek out a library with subscriptions. Likewise, just finding an index to each journal is not a trivial problem.
Suggestion 1: If you want to try ONE thing with the biggest chance for success, go to the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s website AmericanAncestors.org and use Search — Databases — Category: Journals & Periodicals. You will need to establish a free guest user account; for some of these, you will need to be an NEHGS member, or find a library with a subscription. This allows you to search the following journals, among others (in many cases, only issues more than five years old are included, and many do not go as far back as the earliest issues.)
The American Genealogist
Boston Evening Transcript Genealogy Pages, 1911-1940 [note: seems not to have a working index, but you can get to the page you want if you know the date]
Connecticut Nutmegger
Essex Antiquarian & The Essex Genealogist
The Maine Genealogist
The Mayflower Descendant
New England Historical and Genealogical Register
New York Genealogical and Biographical Record
Rhode Island Roots
Of those, of course, Rhode Island Roots is the most important for Rhode Island research, however, there are some outstanding genealogists producing articles for all the prestigious journals concerning Rhode Island topics. For additional journal suggestions, see this article.
Quality journals.
Suggestion 2:The second easy way to access some quality pre-1990 articles is to locate in a library the four volumes of articles published by the Genealogical Publishing Company, below. Each set contains a thorough index.
Genealogies of Rhode Island Families From the New England Historic Genealogical Register, 2 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1989. Specifically, see Gary Boyd Roberts’ brief bibliographies of 100 Rhode Island families, page xix – xxxiv. Remember, that was current in 1989. This set, and the set below, are very thoroughly indexed at the back of volume 2.
Genealogies of Rhode Island Families From Rhode Island Periodicals, 2 vols. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1983.
The two sets of Genealogies of Rhode Island Families. Note there is a substantial index at the back of each.
Additional sources
A huge number of local history and genealogy journals are indexed through PERSI, a database available through your local library and/or FindMyPast.com The indexing is not extensive; they are mostly indexed by general topic, but could be good if there was an article about your family or town. Once a citation is found, you will need to seek out the article itself. I am not sure about the current status of PERSI; consult your local librarian for help.
Godfrey Memorial Library, comp. “American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI).” Database on-line. Ancestry.com.http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3599 Original data: Godfrey Memorial Library. American Genealogical-Biographical Index. Middletown, CT, USA: Godfrey Memorial Library. [A compiled index to many of the holdings of the Godfrey Memorial Library (a genealogy library in Connecticut); an index of names. Also available at larger genealogy libraries in hard copy (over 200 volumes). Once a citation is found, Godfrey has a photocopy service where they will, for a fee, copy the particular item that was cited. Content includes the Genealogy Column of the Boston Transcript, which is likely to contain a reader query about an ancestor and, possibly, in a subsequent entry, an informed response from a genealogist.]
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.]
Index To Genealogical Periodicals, vol. I (1932) and vol. II (1948) , compiled by Donald Lines Jacobus.
Index to Early Records of the Town of Providence, by Richard leBaron Bowen (Oxford Press, 1949). Mr. Bowen, a noted Rhode Island genealogist, realized the potential of the Early Records index to help descendants of early Providence families to trace their ancestors, even if they were otherwise poorly documented, so he added a list of families included in Austin’s Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island (listed above) on page 87-93, plus a brief bibliography of articles on Rhode Island families in the decades leading up to 1950, on pages 93-97.
My favorite 10 Rhode Island family genealogies
Of all the genealogies that actually have helped me, these are the ones I recommend most highly. If I had different ancestors, the list would be different. These selections make it clear that helpful genealogies are not always online, and are not always found in book form.
ALDRICH– The Aldrich Family Genealogy – Descendants of George Aldrich of Mendon, MA, a manuscript compiled by Ralph Ernest Aldrich (1902-1984) and his wife Pearl Lillian (Marquis) Aldrich. 18 volumes.
ARNOLD– The Arnold Family of Smithfield, Rhode Island by Richard H. Benson. Boston: Newbury Street Press, 2009. For advice on finding this book and on the other Arnold lines in Rhode Island, see “Meet the Arnolds“.
BOWEN– Richard Bowen (1594?-1675) of Rehoboth, Massachusetts and His Descendants by William B. Saxbe Jr. 3 volumes, Hope, Rhode Island: Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2011-2015. What I would say about this set is ALWAYS seek out the highest quality work in an area to see if it can help you. This one is exceptionally well done. Another such example – Thomas Clemence of Providence, Rhode Island by Jane Fletcher Fiske and Roberta Stokes Smith. Greenville, R.I.: Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2007.
DARLING – Dennis Darling of Braintree and Mendon, by William and Lou Martin, 2006. In addition to genealogical information on the Darlings, the book contains brief sections on the intermarried families of Cook, Southwick, Thayer, and Thompson. There are about 5000 footnotes which will help you find specific records concerning your ancestors. This book can sometimes be accessed through FamilySearch.org – Search – Books.
LAMPHERE– a series of articles in New England Historical Genealogical Register:
Scott Andrew Bartley. “George Lanphear of Westerly, Rhode Island and his Descendants.” New England Historic Genealogical Register 153 (April 1999): 131-140.
Scott Andrew Bartley. “George Lanphear of Westerly, Rhode Island and his Descendants, Part 2.” New England Historic Genealogical Register 159 (October 2005): 333-340.
Scott Andrew Bartley. “George Lanphear of Westerly, Rhode Island and his Descendants, Part 3.” New England Historic Genealogical Register 160 (January 2006): 47-59.
RICE– a series of articles in Rhode Island Roots:
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher. “Major Henry Rice of Warwick and His Family.” Rhode Island Roots 24 (March/June 1998): 1 – 60.
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher. “John1 Rice of Warwick, Rhode Island.” Rhode Island Roots 24 (September/December 1998): 153-168.
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher. “John2 Rice, Jr., of Warwick, Rhode Island.” Rhode Island Roots 25 (September 1999): 81-118.
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher. “John2 Rice, Jr., of Warwick, Rhode Island.” Rhode Island Roots 26 (September 2000): 57-84.
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher. “John2 Rice, Jr., of Warwick, Rhode Island (concluded).” Rhode Island Roots 27 (March 2001): 1 – 26.
SMITH– Farnham, Charles William. “John Smith, The Miller, of Providence, Rhode Island – Some of His Descendants” in Genealogies of Rhode Island Families From Rhode Island Periodicals, volume II, p. 1 – 150. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1983 [originally appeared in the 1960’s as a series of articles in Rhode Island History, v. 20 – 24]. It’s not that this work is so superb, although maybe it is, it’s just that it’s so hard to work with the name Smith.
WILLIAMS – Descendants of Roger Williams, Book 1 – Book 5. The website of the Roger Williams Family Association allows you to peruse the first four generations of descent online. After that, it’s necessary to consult the books.
Should you find a book that you would like to purchase, I usually try Higginson Books, Genealogical Publishing, and Heritage Books for reprints. I also look on eBay.com and Amazon.com, although lately I find older books on Amazon to be overpriced, sometimes ridiculously so (often a more thorough search online for the tiny publisher’s website brings up a much more attractive price than anything you will find on Amazon.com.) In a pinch, my best advice for a local Rhode Island used bookstore is Allison B. Goodsell, Rare Books, also called the Kingston Hill Store.
In closing
Be sure to check out the post about sources of local town records since some of those offer genealogical information about specific families.
There are eight weeks of helpful advice and links:
Welcome to 8 Weeks to Better Rhode Island Genealogy ResearchWeek 5 – Town Records, Histories and Newspapers. This covers location-specific books, town records, and newspapers.
Town records
Town records, published histories, and local newspapers are where the stories of our ancestors may be hiding. To know that our ancestors spent one or more generations in a town, and yet know very little about that town, or even worse, to assume we know enough without research, is to ignore our role as family story-finders.
10 things you can find in town records (often called “Council Minutes” or “Town Council Records”)
(early records) vital records (and even, in early Providence records, marriage banns since the church was not allowed to provide any services like that)
(early records) probate
(early records) notes on real estate, for instance, swapping tracts of land. Later, such functions would be assigned to, say, a town clerk and be recorded separately.
During war-time, filling allotments of soldiers, or provisions for certain soldiers
liquor (tavern) permits
warnings out of new residents that the town had no obligation to support if they fell on hard times, and support for the poor including purchases of room and board, clothing, coffins, or medical services from named town residents
jury duty
road clearing teams, assigned by neighborhood
collection of “rates” or taxes, sometimes based on data about property owned
sending representatives to the state government
Always check Rhode Island Roots for various town records and lists transcribed there, and Rhode Island History, published by the Rhode Island Historical Society. Check the card catalog and manuscript finding aids at the Rhode Island Historical Society. A call to the town library with specific content-related questions (e.g., do you know of any local shipbuilding records? Do you have any diaries or old documents from a certain neighborhood?) as well as a search for a local historical house or society is always worth doing. And lastly, the Narragansett Historical Register should be searched.
The major state histories usually describe the development of each early town and the subsequent spun-off towns. These books contain some great illustrations, that might work well in your own family history book if they are no longer under copyright.
Arnold, Samuel Greene. History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, vol 1vol 2. New York: D Appleton & Co., 1859.
Bicknell, Thomas Williams. The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. vol 1vol 2vol 3vol 4vol 5 vol 6 (not available online as a pdf). A search of all volumes is available with an Ancestry.com subscription here. New York: The American Historical Society, 1920.
Field, Edward, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century: A History. vol 1vol 2vol 3. Boston, Mason Pub. Co., 1902.
James, Sidney. Colonial Rhode Island: A History. New York: Scribner, 1975.
History of Newport County, Rhode Island: From the Year 1638 to the Year 1887, Including the Settlement of Its Towns, and Their Subsequent Progress by Richard M. Bayles (New York: L.E. Preston & Co, 1888)
History of Providence County, Rhode Island, vol 1vol 2, by Richard M. Bayles (New York, 1891)
Rhode Island: Three Centuries of Democracy, 4 vols. by Charles Carroll (N.Y.: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1932)
MANY original town record books are now included in the new Ancestry.com probate record set for Rhode Island, but it will not be obvious how to find them and they are not likely to be indexed. For a guide and key to navigating those record sets, visit the post on probate records.
Town records and published histories, by town
Barrington
Adams, Virginia H. Historic and Architectural Resources of Barrington, Rhode Island. Providence, R.I. (150 Benefit St., Providence 02903) : Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission, 1993.
Saunders, Dorothy C. Bristol, R.I.’s Early Settlers. Bowie, Md: Heritage Books, 1992.[thanks to Cherry Fletcher Bamberg’s 2006 article Comfort (Pearce) Coggeshall and her Children, The New England Historical Genealogical Register (2006), 160 : 85-98, 224-235, 297-310 ; footnote 2.]
Thompson, Charles O.F. Sketches of Old Bristol. Providence: Roger Williams Press, 1942.
Mehrtens, Patricia A. One Hundred Years Ago in Burrillville: Selected Stories from Local Newspapers. Bowie, Md: Heritage Books, 1992.
Central Falls
Haley, John Williams, Roscoe Morton Dexter, Mrs. Herbert Gould Beede. The Lower Blackstone River Valley; the Story of Pawtucket, Central Falls, Lincoln, and Cumberland, Rhode Island. Pawtucket, R.I.: E.L. Freeman Co., 1937.
Charlestown
The Charlestown Bicentennial Book Committee. Reflections of Charlestown, Rhode Island 1876-1976. Westerly, R.I.: The Utter Company, 1976.
Crandall, Earl P.
Five Families of Charlestown, Rhode Island : Bliven, Crandall, Macomber, Money, Taylor. Catskill, N.Y.: E.P. Crandall, 1993.
Charlestown in the Mid 19th Century, As Seen through the Eyes of “Uncle Phineas” (Nelson Byron Vars). 1992.
Fish, Joseph. Old Light on Separate Ways: the Narragansett Diary of Joseph Fish, 1765-1776. Hanover, N.H., University Press of New England, 1982.
Mandeville, Frances W. The Historical Story of Charlestown, Rhode Island. Charlestown, R.I.: Charlestown Historical Society, 1979.
See also Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society periodicals: Hinterlander and Proceedings.
Coventry
Harpin, Mathias Peter and William Koji. Prophets in the Wilderness: A History of Coventry, Rhode Island. Oneco, Conn.: Harpin’s Connecticut Almanac, 1974.
Hey, Catherine. “Gleanings from Rhode Island Town Records: Early Coventry Records.” Rhode Island Roots. Special Bonus Issue 2010 (April 2010).
Levesque, George A. Coventry: The Colonial Years 1741-1783. [Typescript, Master’s Thesis, Brown University], 1969.
Warnings out from Coventry Town Council Minutes transcr. by Linda L. Mathew. Rhode Island Roots 29:1 (Mar 2003) p. 9-30.
See also Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society periodicals: Hinterlander and Proceedings.
Cranston
Brayton, Gladys W and William M. Carpenter. Other Ways and Other Days. E. Providence: Globe Printing, 1975.
Balfour, David W and Joyce Hindle Koutsogiane. Cumberland by the Blackstone: 250 Years of Heritage. Virginia Beach: The Donning Company: 1997.
Ray, Judith Jenckes. Founders and Patriots of the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island. Baltimore : Gateway Press, 1990.
Simpson, Robert. North Cumberland: A History.[Chelsea, Vt.] : [Acorn Press], [1975].
Sprague, Abigail A. (Field). “Abigail Sprague’s History of Cumberland.” Mss. 1023. The Rhode Island Historical Society Research Center, Providence, Rhode Island.
This map of 1820 East Greenwich is provided as evidence that King Street, leading down to the bay, was the main thoroughfare of East Greenwich, not Main Street, where my ancestor had a house. That goes a long way to explain how my ancestor could afford such a classy address in 1800 — maybe it wasn’t. Partial snapshot from The History of East Greenwich by McPartland, p. 51.
East Greenwich
Adamson, Thaire H. and Marion Fry. A History of East Greenwich Rhode Island : as published in The East Greenwich Packet. East Greenwich, R.I. : East Greenwich Preservation Society, 1996.
Bamberg, Cherry F. Elder John Gorton and the Six Principle Baptist Church of East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Greenville, R.I: Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2001.
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher. “Gleanings from Rhode Island Town Records: East Greenwich Town Council Records, 1734-1774.” Rhode Island Roots. Special Bonus Issue 2008 (April 2008).
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher. “Gleanings from Rhode Island Town Records: East Greenwich Town Council Records, 1775-1800.” Rhode Island Roots. Special Bonus Issue 2009 (April 2009).
Eldridge, James H. and Daniel H Greene. History of East Greenwich. A series of articles published in the East Greenwich Weekly Pendulum, June 8 – Nov. 17, 1860.
MacGunnigle, Bruce C. Strolling in Historic East Greenwich. Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014.
McPartland, Martha R. The History of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, 1677-1960: with related genealogy. East Greenwich, R.I.: East Greenwich Free Library Association, 1960.
Miller, William Davis. Notes and Queries concerning the Early Bounds and Divisions of the Township of East Greenwich: as set forth in William Hall’s plat. Providence: E.L. Freeman Co., [1937].
Potter, Elisha R. Memoir Concerning the French Settlements and French Settlers in the Colony of Rhode Island. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co, 1968.
Wood, W. LeRoy. “First Settlers in East Providence.” Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, 24 (1931), 92-96.
Exeter
Simister, Florence P. A Short History of Exeter, Rhode Island. Exeter, R.I.: Exeter Bicentennial Commission, 1978.
Foster
Early Historical Accounts of Foster, Rhode Island. Glenview, Ill.: Moshassuck Press, 1993. Contains Charles C. Beaman’s “Sketches of Foster” and Casey B. Tyler’s “Historical Reminiscences of Foster.” Indexed by Kenneth W. Faig.
Ferraro, William Michael. “Lives of quiet desperation : Community and polity in New England over four centuries : the cases of Portsmouth and Foster, Rhode Island.” Dissertation: Ph. D., Brown University 1991.
Matthews, Margery I.
“First Tax List for Foster RI After Division from Scituate RI” transc. by Margery I. Matthews. Rhode Island Roots 12:2 (Jun 1986) p. 29-32.
[look for short works issued by the Foster Preservation Society in the 1980’s – 1990’s including “Tax Records 1781, 1787, 1798” and “Peleg’s Last Word: The Story of the Foster Woolen Manufactory.”].
Fiske, Jane Fletcher, transcriber. Glocester 1778 Tax List: “A List of the Polls and Estates Real and Personal of the Proprietors and Inhabitants of the Town of Glocester in the State of Rhode Island.” Rhode Island Roots, volumes 19 (1993) through 20 (1994).
Glocester, the way up country : a history, guide and directory compiled by The Heritage Division, Glocester Bicentennial Commission. Glocester, R.I. : Town of Glocester, 1976.
History of the town of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, 1757-1976 : historical facts compiled by Hopkinton Bicentennial Commission. Publication Committee. Westerly, 1976.
See also Hopkinton Historical Association HopkintonNotes
Jamestown
Watson, Walter L. History of Jamestown on Conanicut Island in the State of Rhode Island. Providence, 1949.
[note – the Jamestown Historical Society has some manuscripts of unique sources such as newspaper indices.]
Johnston
McGowan, Louis and Virginia Brunelle. Johnston, Rhode Island ; 1759 to 2009 : 250th Anniversary. Johnston Historical Society. Johnston Historical Society : Printed by the Louis Press, 2009.
“A Valuation of the Rateable Property of the Town of Johnston.” Rhode Island Roots 11:2 (Jun 1985) p. 35-37.
[note that some early Johnston town records are held at the Providence City Archives.]
Lisle, Janet Taylor. First light: Sakonnet, 1660-1820 : the history of Little Compton. Little Compton, R.I. : Little Compton Historical Society, 2010.
Pierre-Louis, Marion. The stories houses tell : a collection of Little Compton house histories. Little Compton, RI : Little Compton Historical Society, 2015.
Wilbour, Benjamin Franklin.
Little Compton families. Little Compton, R.I., Little Compton Historical Society, 1967.
and Carlton C Brownell. Notes on Little Compton : from records collected by Benjamin Franklin Wilbour. Little Compton, R.I. : Little Compton Historical Society, 1970.
“Gleanings from Rhode Island Town Records: Middletown Town Council Records, 1743-1783.” Rhode Island Roots. Special Bonus Issue 2016 (April 2016). (Plus the 2017 continuation)
Narragansett
Arnold, James N. The Records of the Proprietors of the Narragansett: Otherwise Called the Fones Record ; Rhode Island Colonial Gleanings. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1990.
Carpenter, Esther Bernon. South County Studies. Boston: D.B. Updike, 1924.
Hazard, Caroline (these books refer to the generic Narragansett area, not the town)
Moriarty, G. Andrews. “Early Block Island Families” – a series of articles in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register during the late 1920’s.
Newport (this is just a sampling – there are hundreds of books and articles available on Newport’s history)
Capron, John F. III. “Genealogical Clues from Newport, R.I. Customs District Records.” Rhode Island Roots 38:1 (Mar 2012) p. 33-54.
Coughtry, Jay, and Daniel Lewis. Papers of the American Slave Trade: Series B. Bethesda, MD: University Publications of America, 2002 (a large microfilm collection of Newport Historical Society holdings).
Crane, Elaine F.
Ebb Tide in New England: Women, Seaports, and Social Change, 1630-1800. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998.
A Dependent People: Newport, Rhode Island, in the Revolutionary Era. New York: Fordham University Press, 1985.
Fiske, Jane Fletcher. Gleanings from Newport Court Files 1659-1783. Boxford, Massachusetts: 1998.
Hubbard, Samuel. Samuel Hubbard’s journal, circa 1633-1686: manuscripts relating to Samuel Hubbard of Newport, Rhode Island / transcribed by the Rhode Island Historical Records Survey Project, Division of Professional and Service Projects, Work Projects Administration, from a copy in the possession of William L. Burdick. Providence, R.I. : The Project, [1940]
Jefferys, C P. B, and C P. B. Jefferys. Newport: A Short History. Newport, R.I: The Society, 1992.
Merchant, Gloria. Pirates of colonial Newport. Charleston, SC : The History Press, 2014
Peterson, Edward. History of Rhode Island. New-York: J.S. Taylor, 1853. [note: according to Bartlett’s 1864 Bibliography of Rhode Island, this volume “abounds in errors, and is of no historical value.”]
Robinson, William Henry. The proceedings of the Free African Union Society and the African Benevolent Society : Newport, Rhode Island, 1780-1824. Providence, R.I. : Urban League of Rhode Island, 1976
Simpson, Richard V. Historic Tales of Colonial Rhode Island: Aquidneck Island and the Founding of the Ocean State. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2012.
Stensrud, Rockwell. Newport: A Lively Experiment 1639-1969. Newport, RI: Redwood Library and Athenaeum, 2006.
Troost-Cramer, Kathleen. True Tales of Life & Death at Fort Adams. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013.
Youngken, Richard C. African Americans in Newport : an introduction to the heritage of African Americans in Newport, Rhode Island, 1700-1945 [Providence, R.I.] : The Newport Historical Society, 1998.
They just don’t make book titles like they used to. Wickford is a village in North Kingstown.
North Kingstown
Conley, Patrick Thomas. North Kingstown: An Historical Sketch. Providence: Rhode Island Bicentennial Commission, 1976.
1798 Direct Tax records for North Kingstown, Providence, Richmond, Smithfield and Warwick [R.I. Historical Society manuscript 232, subgroup 4]
Loxton, George R. Davisville, Rhode Island: A History of the Textile Mill Village of Davisville, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, Since the Arrival of Joshua Davis in 1694. Baltimore: Gateway Press, 2001.
Ferraro, William Michael. “Lives of quiet desperation : Community and polity in New England over four centuries : the cases of Portsmouth and Foster, Rhode Island.” Dissertation: Ph. D., Brown University, 1991.
Garman, James E.
Historic Houses of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Portsmouth: Garman, 1976.
A History of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 1638-1978. Newport: Franklin Printing, 1978. [note: thanks to Grundset’s Rhode Island in the American Revolution: A Source Guide for Genealogists and Historians, p. 153.]
Pierce, John T. Historical Tracts of the Town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. 1991.
Taft, Donald R. Two Portuguese communities in New England. Dissertation: PhD., Columbia University, 1923.
West, Edward Homer. History of Portsmouth, 1638-1936. Providence, R.I. : J. Green, 1936.
[note – the Portsmouth Free Public Library has an excellent local history collection, and hosts books from the Rhode Island Genealogical Society collection]
Providence (this is just a sampling – there are hundreds of books and articles available on Providence’s history)
1798 Direct Tax records for North Kingstown, Providence, Richmond, Smithfield and Warwick [R.I. Historical Society manuscript 232, subgroup 4]
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher. 1776 Census of Providence, Rhode Island. New England Historic Genealogical Register, 159 (Jan 2005): 12-24 and (April 2005) 141-154.
Cady, John Hutchins. The Civic and Architectural Development of Providence 1636-1950. Providence: The Book Shop, 1957. [note: reviews the growth and development of the various neighborhoods.]
Hopkins, Charles Wyman. Home Lots of the Early Settlers of the Providence Plantations. 1886, reprinted Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 2007.
Taylor, Maureen Alice. 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. Genealogical Publ. Co., 1995
Woodward, Wm. McKenzie and Edward F. Sanderson. Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources. Providence: Rhode Island Historic Preservation Commission, 1980.
Richmond
1798 Direct Tax records for North Kingstown, Providence, Richmond, Smithfield and Warwick [R.I. Historical Society manuscript 232, subgroup 4]
Irish, James R. Historical Sketch of the Town of Richmond, from 1747 to 1876: Comprising a Period of One Hundred and Twenty-Nine Years. Hope Valley, R.I: L.W.A. Cole, Job printer, 1877.
Town of Richmond Tax Book for 1855, 1872, 1883 [on USGenWeb thanks to Susan Pieroth and Kathleen Beilstein.]
Scituate
Crane, Mary Knight. “30 Revolutionary Pensioners, Scituate, R.I.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 14 (June 1925), 29. [thanks to Grundset’s Rhode Island in the American Revolution: A Source Guide for Genealogists and Historians, p. 170.]
Grandchamp, Robert. “With Their Usual Ardor”: Scituate, Rhode Island and the American Revolution. Westminster, Maryland: Heritage Press, 2006.
Mathew, Linda L.
“Guardianships from the Town of Scituate, R.I. 1762-1799.” Rhode Island Roots 30:4 (Dec 2004) p. 206-228.
“Gleanings from Rhode Island Town Records: Scituate Town Council Records, 1731-1786.” Rhode Island Roots. Special Bonus Issue 2011 (April 2011).
Walker, Cyrus and later editors. The History of Scituate, R.I., from the Acquisition of the Territory in 1659 to the Close of the Nineteenth Century. Scituate Bicentennial Committee, 1976. See also:
1798 Direct Tax records for North Kingstown, Providence, Richmond, Smithfield and Warwick [R.I. Historical Society manuscript 232, subgroup 4]
[Fiske, Jane Fletcher, transcriber?] Smithfield 1778 Tax List: “A List of the Polls and Estates Real and Personal of the Proprietors and Inhabitants of the Town of Smithfield in the State of Rhode Island.” Rhode Island Roots, volumes 21 (1995) through 23 (1997).
Sanborn, Melinde Lutz. “Smithfield, Rhode Island Death Records Culled from Probates.” New England Historic Genealogical Register 146 (October 1992): 343-351.
[note that some early Smithfield town records are held at the Central Falls City Hall.]
South Kingstown (see also Narragansett)
Bossy, Kathleen, and Mary Keane. Lost South Kingstown: With a History of Ten of Its Early Villages. Kingston, R.I: Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, 2004.
Comstock, Charles. A History of South-Kingstown: With Description of the Hornet’s Nest Company, and the Cats Let Out of the Bag, 1806.
Hazard, Thomas B. Nailer Tom’s Diary: otherwise, the journal of Thomas B. Hazard of Kingstown, Rhode Island, 1778-1840. Caroline Hazard, ed. Boston: Merrymount Press, 1930.
McBurney, Christian M. A History of Kingston, R.I., 1700-1900: Heart of Rural South County. Kingston, R.I: Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, 2004.
Miller, William D, and Joseph Torrey. Dr. Joseph Torrey and His Record Book of Marriages. Salem, Mass: Higginson Book Co, 1997.
Perkins, P. J. Shipwrecks, sinkings and strandings for Narragansett and South Kingstown, 1880 thru 1940. 1993.
“South Kingstown 1757 Tax List.” Rhode Island Roots 13:2 (Jun 1987) p. 37-40. Continued in 13:3 (Sep 1987) 63-67.
South Kingstown, Rhode Island Town Council. Town Council Records, 1771-1795 / transcribed by Jean C. Stutz. Kingstown, R.I. : Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, 1988.
Stedman, Daniel. Daniel Stedman’s journal, 1826-1859 / transcribed and introduced by Henry Clay Oatley ; edited by Cherry Fletcher Bamberg. Greenville, R.I. : Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2003.
Stedman, Oliver H. A Stroll Through Memory Lane with Oliver H. Stedman: Stories of South County’s Past. Kingston Press, 1978.
Watson, Judith Green. South Kingstown, Rhode Island Tax Lists, 1730-1799. Rockland, Maine: Picton Press, 2007.
[see also works published by the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, newly renamed the South County History Center.]
South Kingston, Rhode Island Tax Lists, 1730-1799. Photo by Diane Boumenot.
Tiverton
Burroughs, Peleg. Peleg Burroughs’s journal, 1778-1798 : the Tiverton, R. I. years of the humbly bold Baptist minister. Warwick, RI : Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 1981.
Durfee, Grace Stafford. Rhode Island tercentenary 1636 1936 historical edition of Tiverton Rhode Island. 1936. (mostly covers historic buildings).
Peck, Henry J. 200th anniversary of Warren, Rhode Island : historical sketch, 1747-1947. The Town of Warren, 1947.
See also Providence [Taylor].
You can always join the Rhode Island Genealogical Society and let the experts transcribe and index those town council records for you. One volume per year!
Warwick
1798 Direct Tax records for North Kingstown, Providence, Richmond, Smithfield and Warwick [R.I. Historical Society manuscript 232, subgroup 4]
Bamberg, Cherry Fletcher.
“Gleanings from Rhode Island Town Records: Warwick Town Council Records, 1742-1780.” Rhode Island Roots. Special Bonus Issue 2012 (April 2012).
“Gleanings from Rhode Island Town Records: Warwick Town Council Records, 1781-1801.” Rhode Island Roots. Special Bonus Issue 2013 (April 2013).
“Residency Certificates from the Warwick Archives.” Rhode Island Roots 31:1 (Mar 2005) p. 32-39.
Chapin, Howard M.
“Early house lots in the east part of the town of Warwick.” Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, 12 (1919), 129-136.
The early records of the town of Warwick. Providence, R. I,. E. A. Johnson company, 1926.
Curtis, Harold R. “Warwick Proprietors’ Divisions.” Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, 30 (1927), 33-51.
Fuller, Oliver P. The history of Warwick, Rhode Island, from its settlement in 1642 to the present time; including accounts of the early settlement and development of its several villages; sketches of the origin and progress of the different churches … Providence, Angell, Burlingame & co., printers, 1875.
Lockwood, Ernest Lapham. Episodes In Warwick History. Warwick, R.I. : City of Warwick historical committee of the Rhode Island tercentenary celebration, 1937.
Tillinghast, Samuel. The diary of Capt. Samuel Tillinghast of Warwick, Rhode Island : 1757-1766, transcribed and edited by Cherry Fletcher Bamberg. Greenville, R.I. : Rhode Island Genealogical Society, 2000.
Warwick. More early records of the town of Warwick, Rhode Island : “The book with clasps” and “General records” transcribed by Marshall Morgan; edited by Cherry Fletcher Bamberg and Jane Fletcher Fiske. Boston, Mass. : New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001.
Woodward, Carl Raymond. “Rural economy 200 years ago: as revealed in the account books of Benoni Waterman of Warwick, 1733-1740.” Rhode Island History, 4 (1945), 97-106; 5 (1946), 119-128.
West Greenwich
Baker, Roberta. Bits and pieces of West Greenwich memoranda, 1976.
Hey, Catherine. “Gleanings from Rhode Island Town Records: West Greenwich Town Council Records, 1741-1772.” Rhode Island Roots. Special Bonus Issue 2015 (April 2015).
Historical Records Survey. Rhode Island. Inventory of the town and city archives of Rhode Island: No. 2, Kent County: vol. 4, West Greenwich.
West Greenwich (Town), R.I. “Town Records, 1741-1869.” Manuscript MSS 222, Rhode Island Historical Society. (note: this item comes from Grundset’s Rhode Island in the American Revolution: A Source Guide for Genealogists and Historians, p. 123).
See also Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Society periodicals: Hinterlander and Proceedings.
West Warwick – see Warwick for earlier works
Westerly
Anderson, Robert Charles. “The Colonial Records of the Town of Westerly, Rhode Island” Rhode Island Roots 7:3 (Sep 1981) p. 25-27. [contains an explanation of the contents and numbering of each re-bound early record book in the Town Hall].
Best, Mary Agnes. The Town that Saved a State, Westerly. Westerly: 1943.
Larkin, Jessie N. C, and Frederic Denison. Index for Rev. Frederic Denison’s Westerly (r.i.) and Its Witnesses. New York: publisher not identified, 1933.
Dowding, George R. Military History of Westerly: 1710-1932. Westerly, R.I: Blackburn & Benson, printers, 1932.
O’Connell, Thomas A. Fair Westerly. Westerly, RI: Westerly Historical Society, 2014.
Shea, Robert F. Aspects of the History of Westerly During the Civil War , 1957.[thesis: University of Rhode Island].
Utter, George B. Old “westerle,” Rhode Island: Now Constituting the Towns of Charlestown, Hopkinton, Richmond and Westerly. Rhode Island’s Jubilee Year, 1636-1936. Westerly, R.I.: The Utter Company, printers, 1936.
“The Patriots of Westerly, R. I., 1776.” The American Monthly Magazine, The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington D. C., (Feb. 1906), 124 – 126. Transcribed on USGenWeb by Susan Irish Nahas.
[check out worldcat.org for many shorter works published by the Westerly Historical Society.]
Woonsocket
Bonier, Marie L, Claire Quintal, and Raymond H. Bacon. The Beginnings of the Franco-American Colony in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Worcester, Mass: Assumption College, Institut français, 1997.
Daniels, Alanson S. Statistics of the village of Woonsocket : comprising the names of the heads of families, arranged in alphabetical order, the number of inhabitants in each section of the village, with other useful and interesting matter, 1842 … Woonsocket, 1842.
Fortin, Marcel P. Woonsocket, Rhode Island: A Centennial History, 1888-1988. Woonsocket, R.I: Woonsocket Centennial Committee, 1988.
Newman, S C. A Numbering of the Inhabitants: Together with Statistical and Other Information, Relative to Woonsocket, R.I. Woonsocket: Printed by S.S. Foss, 1846.
Thomas, Alton P. Old Woonsocket: Erastus & Doc. Providence: Mowbray Co., 1973.
[see also books published by American-French Genealogical Society]
Omitted from the above lists: Architectural and archaeological surveys, church histories, and books about single families. The Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission has issued Preliminary Survey Reports on the archaeology and historic sites of most or all Rhode Island towns. Always check out local historical societies. Some local libraries in Rhode Island also have local history collections. This post on Rhode Island church records will show you the specific church-related vital records that were compiled by James Arnold. And RIAMCO helps you find manuscript materials in Rhode Island repositories.
My favorite two bibliographies of Rhode Island historical materials are:
Grundset, Eric G. Rhode Island in the American Revolution: A Source Guide for Genealogists and Historians. The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 2014. There was so much additional material in there that I did not find in my other searches. I noted three entries in the list above that I found only in that book, but there are hundreds of others; I urge everyone to consult it.
James, Sydney V. Colonial Rhode Island: A History. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975. See “Bibliography”, p. 385-411. I thank Maureen Taylor for recommending this book to me; it is so valuable for Rhode Island researchers.
Columbian Phenix, Providence, Saturday, December 1, 1810. I purchased this on eBay recently. What surprised me about holding the newspaper in my hand was how thick the paper was – just like book paper.
Newspapers
6 things to know about historic Rhode Island newspapers:
In my experience GenealogyBank.com offers the best selection of Rhode Island newspapers. That’s where I have found 95% of the newspaper items in my genealogy files.
If you are looking for free newspaper offerings, look no further than The Ancestor Hunt‘s Rhode Island page. Explore the website and blog, it’s filled with helpful tips.
The Providence Journal, Rhode Island’s premier newspaper, does not have historical issues online or indexed (just the last few decades). Hoping we see some progress on that soon.
The Rhode Island Historical Society holds the largest collection of Rhode Island newspapers on microfilm, and there were many newspapers over the years. There is little in the way of indexing, however, so you need to know the approximate date you need. Note that the state is small and the capital was ever-shifting, so Providence and Newport papers were likely to carry stories from any part of Rhode Island.
The Providence Public Library has a Rhode Island Index with listings of major stories from 1900-2004. Only my rich and famous family connections are in there (so that’s not many!)
A 1965 list of newspapers held in the various Rhode Island libraries is here. The newspapers themselves would be accessed by going to the library and viewing the microfilm.
See the other 8 Weeks to Better Rhode Island Genealogy posts by clicking the tab at the top of the page.
There are eight weeks of helpful advice and links:
Property records and the maps that help us understand our ancestor’s location contain some very helpful clues. Even for ancestors whose background we know, maps and deeds can fill in fascinating parts of the story.
Maps
So let me just say right off, even after years in genealogy, I still tend to look at maps too late in the process of research. Maps should be almost the first thing we turn to. Was the village close to the state line, meaning our ancestors’ records may be recorded in another state? Have we checked all neighboring towns for records? Looking at our ancestor’s street on an old map, is it clear which nearby town would have been easiest to walk to, and possibly find a wife in? What was the nearest church? What nearby waterways provided easy transportation or employment?
More and more old maps are coming online. Even if they are for sale, they are often viewable online. Although not listed below, Ancestry.com has also added some of these same maps in the Maps, Atlases and Gazetteers section.
This 1795 Harris map shows the northeast corner of the state where my ancestors lived. I find that by matching landmarks in the old maps (for instance, Abbots Run along the east border) with information in my ancestors’ deeds, I can often come close to knowing the location of their property.
My top 8 online map finds
I was underwhelmed with the selection of digital maps available online, the same few over and over, and lots of state maps showing the names of the towns. I wish more specific content was available for each city and town. Here are the major collections and some of my favorites.
The 1870 D. G. Beers & Co. Rhode Island State Atlas shows landowners (link lets you view it at the HistoricMapWorks site).
The 1855 Walling map of Rhode Island, with incredible detail, from the Harvard University Library. Harvard really knows how to photograph a map. It’s a great copy. Try other Rhode Island content from Harvard by using this search for Rhode Island and limiting your search to digital objects. To see a map, after clicking the link, you get a screen like this for an 1849 Providence map – click the digital object link that has the word “buttons” in the URL. The map screen is good once you get used to it – change the Viewing Size, then enlarge.
The Portsmouth History Center features maps of original Portsmouth, Rhode Island land grants, created in 1932, using various colors for the era of the occupant. I wish every early town had these. Check this list of names first, then put “land grant” in the search box near the top of that screen, to find the map you need.
From the David Rumsey Map Collection: Atlas Map of Providence (R.I.) from 1875. Each plate from the three volumes can be viewed in the “Georeferencer” for an amazing overlay with current Google maps. A search for Rhode Island maps pulls up many statewide maps as well.
The Georeferencer screen for plate 38 of the 1875 Providence atlas on David Rumsey Maps. It show my ggg-grandfather’s rented home adjacent to Silver Lake Basin, a former body of water that is now a large parking lot with a flea market building (white streets are the current streets). The old map and the new Google map matched together instantly when I pressed the button. Fascinating to see the streets/features that are still the same and the ones that have changed.
Paper maps
Obviously, there are historical maps in paper collections that could be very helpful. The Rhode Island Historical Society has a wide collection.
To buy wall maps, Rhode Island’s own Map Center located on North Main Street, Providence, will sell you reasonably priced maps. Many time over the years, I have purchased CD’s and a few paper maps from the Rhode Island collection at Old Maps including the 1831 & 1855 maps on CD, and the 1870 Atlas on CD. This lets me keep them permanently on my computer, and open them to whatever size I want.
Deeds treat us to a glimpse of our ancestor’s financial and home life. Was it a big farm? Did they have a mortgage? Did they keep the land their parents had, or strike out on their own? Did they lose their property at some point, and why? And most of all, where was this homestead? Does knowing the “abutters” or neighbors clarify a genealogical detail for us? Did your ancestor buy an extremely expensive house in 1798 which he could never, possibly have afforded, lose it in 1800, and then lived the rest of his life in poverty and you cannot figure out how that happened and it keeps you up at night? (but I digress. On with the deeds).
In Rhode Island, deeds are kept in the town that the transaction occurred in. As new towns split over time, deeds tended to remain in the original town, although there are exceptions to that so always check the town website to see what deeds they hold.
VERY few deeds are online at this point, as you will see, below. So it’s important to get out to the town halls or keep checking Familysearch.org for microfilm rolls which have come online. They have most pre-1900 deeds on film, and promise to get those films online within the next couple of years. To find those deeds go to http://www.familysearch.org, use the Search — Catalog menu item and then “Search by” place, pulling up the exact town, which will look something like this: “United States, Rhode Island, Kent, Coventry.” Familysearch files all deed records under the term “Land and property.”
Finding microfilm listings for Smithfield, Rhode Island, prior to ordering them.
Online deeds
It may not be widely known that slowly, some Rhode Island towns are moving their deeds online and in a few cases, that includes historical deeds. Check this site for the town you are interested in, although you may also need to consult the town/city web page to find out which years are in that system.
I am finding no deeds on Ancestry.com, however, a few deeds drifted into the “probate” category – look over at the Week 3 post on Probate, and follow instructions there to pull up the record set.
Lydia Lamphere signed a deed of sale (with her mark) because she was required to give up her right of dower in the property that she and her husband sold.
Some additional helpful sources:
Brief Westerly deeds abstracts 1725-1758 are available towards the bottom of this USGenWeb page. Thank you, Susan Irish Nahas.