New England Historic Genealogical Society
Encyclopedia
The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in 1845. A charitable, nonprofit educational institution, NEHGS is located at 99-101 Newbury Street, in Boston, Massachusetts, in an eight-story archive and research center. Today it has over 25,000 members worldwide and a 50-person staff. Its mission is to "collect, preserve, and interpret materials to document and make accessible the histories of families in America."
In 2010, NEHGS announced a broader identity and re-launched its quarterly magazine as American Ancestors: New England, New York, and Beyond to better reflect its national scope and leadership position among genealogical nonprofits.
NEHGS maintains a large web site with more than 100 million names in its databases, the largest such online collection of any genealogical society. It includes vital records, compiled genealogies, and a suite of scholarly journals, such as The New England Historical and Genealogical Register and The American Genealogist, the leading independent journal in American genealogy.
In addition to American Ancestors (formerly New England Ancestors), NEHGS publishes other periodicals: The Register, the flagship journal of American genealogy, American Ancestors Journal, an annual supplement to The Register, and The Great Migration Newsletter, a quarterly publication of the Great Migration Study Project.
NEHGS' library catalog is available online and lists more than 200,000 genealogical books and other resources. The R. Stanton Avery Special Collections features over twenty million manuscript items, with an emphasis on the period of the 17th century to the present, covering New England and other regions.
(1798–1875), John Wingate Thornton
(1818–1878), and William Henry Montague (1804–1889). Initially, the founders debated the nature of the organization they would establish. Among their decisions was whether to focus on genealogy
, heraldry
, or history
, or some combination of these disciplines. Genealogy and history were favored and plans were made to incorporate as the New England Historical Genealogical Society. Opposition to the use of the word “historical” was brought by Charles Francis Adams
of the Massachusetts Historical Society
and, as a compromise, the institution’s name was altered to the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This change did not please everyone and one or two of the founders regarded the new name as cumbersome. On March 18, 1845 the General Court of Massachusetts approved the Society’s petition for incorporation.
The impulse to formalize genealogical study in the first half of the 19th century found its earliest roots in the folkways of men and women of the region who, since at least the late 18th century, actively kept private family records to document their families and lineages. These records or registers were often executed in pen-and-ink or in needlework
and were more ornate counterparts to similar printed forms found in Bibles. Later, in the mid-19th century, decorative family register prints were made widely available to the public by lithographers such as Nathaniel Currier.
The founders of NEHGS also acted to make permanent the systematic work of the first generation of genealogical researchers, especially as led by John Farmer
(1789–1838). Before Farmer's efforts, tracing one's ancestry was seen by some as an attempt by colonists to social standing within the British Empire
, an aim that was counter to the new republic's egalitarian, future-oriented ethos. As Fourth of July celebrations commemorating the Founding Fathers and heroes of the American Revolutionary War
became increasingly popular, however, the pursuit of 'antiquarianism,' which focused on local history, became increasingly a way to honor the achievements of early Americans. Farmer capitalized on the increasing acceptability of antiquarianism to frame genealogy within the early republic's ideological framework of pride in one's American ancestors. In the 1820s, Farmer corresponded with various antiquarians in New England
and became a coordinator, booster, and contributor to this burgeoning movement, which gradually gained a devoted American audience. Though Farmer died in 1839, his efforts in part led to the creation of NEGHS. A group of its members founded a similar organization in New York
two decades later in 1869.
In the early 20th century, NEHGS undertook the important project of transcribing and publishing the vital records of Massachusetts towns, which provided a valuable contribution to the genealogical field as this series was expanded over the next forty years. Many of these records were saved from destruction.
For more than a century, NEHGS was directly administered by its officers and board of trustees. In 1962, NEHGS appointed its first professional director, Edgar Packard Dean, a former editor of Foreign Affairs and past director of the Associated Harvard University Clubs. Dean oversaw the Society’s move from Beacon Hill to its present location in the Back Bay and retired in 1972. Dean was succeeded by Richard Donald Pierce, a Unitarian
minister, librarian and formerly dean (and for a while acting president) of Emerson College
, who died in office six months after his appointment.
Pierce was succeeded by James Brugler Bell, who obtained an advanced degree in history from Balliol College, Oxford
, and who was a past lecturer at Ohio State University
and a former candidate for the United States Congress
in Minnesota
. After a tenure of nine years, Bell left NEHGS in 1982. The Society’s finances and morale were at a low point, and it fell to Bell’s successor, Ralph J. Crandall, former editor of The Register and graduate of the University of Southern California
where he obtained his doctorate, to rebuild the Society’s endowment over the following twenty-three years. Crandall left briefly in 1987 and the directorship was filled by John Winthrop Sears, a former city councilor of Boston and Republican nominee for governor of Massachusetts in 1982. Crandall returned to NEHGS in 1988 and continued to expand the organization. In 2005, Crandall stepped down to became executive director emeritus and concentrate on special projects. He was succeeded by D. Brenton Simons, an author, former Chief Operating Officer and Director of Education at NEHGS, and graduate of Boston University
, who joined the staff in 1993 and initiated its magazine, website, and special publications imprint. In 2006 the position of Executive Director was changed to president and CEO and in 2009 Simons announced a gift pledge of $7.5 million from an anonymous donor, the largest charitable gift ever made in the field of American genealogy. Today, NEHGS has a 22-person Board of Trustees that sets governance policies for the organization at quarterly meetings. A larger Council meets annually and, together with the Board, forms the Council of the Corporation, the statutory voting body of the organization.
Scholars associated with NEHGS in the 20th century included:
Noted scholars currently associated with NEHGS include:
Current staff members include Thomas R. Wilcox, Jr. formerly executive director of the Maine Maritime Museum, and genealogical authors David Allen Lambert, Michael J. Leclerc, Christopher C. Child, Rhonda M. McClure, and Scott C. Steward.
Many notable figures, including numerous presidents, have been elected members of NEHGS. An original member was John Quincy Adams
, elected on February 20, 1845, just prior to the Society’s incorporation. Others elected, by year, include:
Horatio Alger, John Albion Andrew, and Rutherford B. Hayes all served at various times as officers of NEHGS.
, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850, Massachusetts Vital Records 1841-1915, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, The American Genealogist, and Abstracts of Wills, Administrations and Guardianships in NY State, 1787-1835.
The Society’s website, in addition to searchable record content, also offers a variety of other resources such as online seminars, the Online Genealogist, and online exhibits featuring unique items from the Society’s manuscript collection.
In addition to the main website, NEHGS supports a number of other websites providing access to the Society’s expansive collections and expertise across many different time periods and ethnic groups. Other NEHGS websites include:
NEHGS launched its first website, www.NEHGS.org in 1996; one of the first non-profit genealogical societies to have an online presence. NEHGS' first website consisted of 38 pages with information about NEHGS services and programs. In 1999, with the introduction of a new magazine New England Ancestors, NEHGS changed its URL to www.NewEnglandAncestors.org, adding important genealogical articles to the website for use by members and the public. In 2001, NEHGS redesigned its website to include data rich content, new articles, and member forums. The most popular database was a full name searchable database of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.
The first three floors of NEHGS' present location were built as a branch of the New England Trust Company in 1928, designed by Ralph Coolidge Henry and Henry P. Richmond, successors to noted American architect Guy Lowell
. (Lowell, a member of a prominent Boston family, designed the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
, the New York State Supreme Court building in New York and many other educational and residential commissions, including many fine gardens. Henry and Richmond finished many projects begun by Guy Lowell, this building being one; the Grosse Point Yacht Club being another. They completed many commissions on their own, including buildings at Colby College
, Pine Manor, and Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.)
When NEHGS moved into its new headquarters in 1964, it added five floors on top of the New England Trust Company building. Today, the floors are used as follows:
• First Floor – Treat Rotunda: reception, public programs and meeting space, book store, and international reference collection
• Second Floor – L. Ted and Alice Richardson Sloane Education Center: meetings and public programs
• Third Floor – board Room and administrative offices
• Fourth Floor – microtext collection
• Fifth Floor – manuscript reading room and local histories as well as the provinces of Canada, including bound volumes of state genealogical society scholarly journals
• Sixth Floor – The R. Stanton Avery Special Collections – archives and manuscript collections.
• Seventh Floor – Ruth Chauncey Bishop Reading Room: reference collections and compiled genealogies
• Eighth Floor – rare books and conservation lab
. The library is open five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday, and its stacks and microtext are “open” except for rare books and manuscripts. NEHGS collections include 200,000 bound volumes; 5,000+ linear feet of original manuscripts; and 100,000 rolls of microfilm. NEHGS has an extensive fine arts collection including noted works on canvas or paper by Joseph Badger, John Singleton Copley
, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Jonathan Mason, Jr., Rembandt Peale, and John Ritto Penniman
. Items from its collection of American furniture were featured in Antiques Magazine.
Among the Society’s recent additions to the genealogical canon are Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, New Englanders in the 1600s, A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries, Ancestors of American Presidents: 2009 edition, The Descendants of Henry Sewall, and Twenty Families of Color in Massachusetts.
is to compile comprehensive genealogical and biographical accounts of every person who settled in New England
between 1620 and 1640. Between these years about twenty thousand English men, women, and children crossed the Atlantic to settle New England. (the Puritan great migration). Initiated in 1988 and directed by Robert Charles Anderson
, the project is an ongoing initiative of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Publications of the Great Migration Study Project:
• The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1633, [first series], 3 vols. (NEHGS, 1995) The first phase of the Great Migration Study Project identifies and describes all those Europeans who settled in New England prior to the end of 1633 – over 900 early New England families.
• The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, [second series], 6 vols. to date:. (NEHGS, 1999—) During this time period, approximately 1,300 families (or unattached men and women) arrived in New England. Each volume contains about 200 individual sketches.
• The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony
(NEHGS, 2007) This volume contains over 200 sketches on every family or individual known to have resided in Plymouth Colony from the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620 until 1633.
• The Great Migration Newsletter. Available in print or online, this publication complements the individual Great Migration sketches, and examines the broad issues in understanding the lives and times of New England's first immigrants. Article topics include the settlement of early New England towns, migration patterns, 17th-century passenger lists, church records, land records, and more.
NEHGS offers a series of research tours, lectures, seminars, and other events throughout the year. For over thirty years, NEHGS has conducted a week-long tour to the Family History Library
in Salt Lake City, Utah
and frequently offers opportunities to research and visit in Ireland
, Scotland
, Washington D.C., England
, Quebec
, and other areas of the world. For more than twenty years, NEHGS has sponsored a week-long summer “Come Home to New England” program in Boston.
The Society has also developed online seminars many of which are taught by their staff genealogists on a wide variety of topics such as Internet searching, beginning genealogical research, organizing, preparing lineage society applications, and others.
NEHGS news stories on the genealogies of public figures have frequently appeared in the media.
In January 2010, NEHGS announced that President Barack Obama
is a 10th cousin to then newly elected Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown
. The two share a common ancestor named Richard Singletary who died in Haverhill, Massachusetts
in 1687.
In October 2009, the Society announced that Hollywood actors and friends Ben Affleck
and Matt Damon
are related to each other. They are 10th cousins, once removed through a common ancestor named William Knowlton of Ipswich, Massachusetts
, who died in 1655.
In April 2008, NEHGS released a story on interesting kinships of the then three remaining presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain
. Barack Obama was shown as a 9th cousin to actor Brad Pitt
while Hillary Clinton was noted as a 9th cousin twice removed of Pitt’s wife, actress Angelina Jolie
. Genealogists also confirmed that Obama is related to seven former U.S. Presidents, including George W. Bush
, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter
, Gerald Ford
, Lyndon B. Johnson
, Harry S. Truman
, and James Madison
.
In March 2008, it was announced that NEHGS discovered in its collections the earliest known photograph of Helen Keller
with her teacher Anne Sullivan
. The photo, taken in July 1888, shows 8-year old Keller holding a doll. “Doll” was the first word Sullivan taught Keller in sign language. It is also the only known photograph of Keller with a doll.
In 2010, NEHGS announced a broader identity and re-launched its quarterly magazine as American Ancestors: New England, New York, and Beyond to better reflect its national scope and leadership position among genealogical nonprofits.
NEHGS maintains a large web site with more than 100 million names in its databases, the largest such online collection of any genealogical society. It includes vital records, compiled genealogies, and a suite of scholarly journals, such as The New England Historical and Genealogical Register and The American Genealogist, the leading independent journal in American genealogy.
In addition to American Ancestors (formerly New England Ancestors), NEHGS publishes other periodicals: The Register, the flagship journal of American genealogy, American Ancestors Journal, an annual supplement to The Register, and The Great Migration Newsletter, a quarterly publication of the Great Migration Study Project.
NEHGS' library catalog is available online and lists more than 200,000 genealogical books and other resources. The R. Stanton Avery Special Collections features over twenty million manuscript items, with an emphasis on the period of the 17th century to the present, covering New England and other regions.
History
The first genealogical society established in the United States, NEHGS was founded in 1845 by a group of five Bostonians: Charles Ewer (1790–1853), Lemuel Shattuck (1793–1859), Samuel Gardner DrakeSamuel Gardner Drake
Samuel Gardner Drake was an eminent American antiquarian.Drake was born in Pittsfield, New Hampshire. His father, Simeon Drake, was initially a farmer like his four brothers, but sold his homestead in 1805 to open a store in neighboring Northwood. His mother, Love Muchmore Drake was the daughter...
(1798–1875), John Wingate Thornton
John Wingate Thornton
John Wingate Thornton was a United States lawyer, historian, antiquarian, book collector and author.-Early life:He was born August 12, 1818 at the home of his grandfather, Thomas Gilbert Thornton in Saco, Maine...
(1818–1878), and William Henry Montague (1804–1889). Initially, the founders debated the nature of the organization they would establish. Among their decisions was whether to focus on genealogy
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
, heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
, or history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, or some combination of these disciplines. Genealogy and history were favored and plans were made to incorporate as the New England Historical Genealogical Society. Opposition to the use of the word “historical” was brought by Charles Francis Adams
Charles Francis Adams, Sr.
Charles Francis Adams, Sr. was an American lawyer, politician, diplomat and writer. He was the grandson of President John Adams and Abigail Adams and the son of President John Quincy Adams and Louisa Adams....
of the Massachusetts Historical Society
Massachusetts Historical Society
The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history...
and, as a compromise, the institution’s name was altered to the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This change did not please everyone and one or two of the founders regarded the new name as cumbersome. On March 18, 1845 the General Court of Massachusetts approved the Society’s petition for incorporation.
The impulse to formalize genealogical study in the first half of the 19th century found its earliest roots in the folkways of men and women of the region who, since at least the late 18th century, actively kept private family records to document their families and lineages. These records or registers were often executed in pen-and-ink or in needlework
Needlework
Needlework is a broad term for the handicrafts of decorative sewing and textile arts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework...
and were more ornate counterparts to similar printed forms found in Bibles. Later, in the mid-19th century, decorative family register prints were made widely available to the public by lithographers such as Nathaniel Currier.
The founders of NEHGS also acted to make permanent the systematic work of the first generation of genealogical researchers, especially as led by John Farmer
John Farmer (author)
John Farmer was an American historian and genealogist, born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. He was the son of John Farmer and Lydia Richardson.He is buried at Concord, New Hampshire....
(1789–1838). Before Farmer's efforts, tracing one's ancestry was seen by some as an attempt by colonists to social standing within the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, an aim that was counter to the new republic's egalitarian, future-oriented ethos. As Fourth of July celebrations commemorating the Founding Fathers and heroes of the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
became increasingly popular, however, the pursuit of 'antiquarianism,' which focused on local history, became increasingly a way to honor the achievements of early Americans. Farmer capitalized on the increasing acceptability of antiquarianism to frame genealogy within the early republic's ideological framework of pride in one's American ancestors. In the 1820s, Farmer corresponded with various antiquarians in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and became a coordinator, booster, and contributor to this burgeoning movement, which gradually gained a devoted American audience. Though Farmer died in 1839, his efforts in part led to the creation of NEGHS. A group of its members founded a similar organization in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
two decades later in 1869.
In the early 20th century, NEHGS undertook the important project of transcribing and publishing the vital records of Massachusetts towns, which provided a valuable contribution to the genealogical field as this series was expanded over the next forty years. Many of these records were saved from destruction.
For more than a century, NEHGS was directly administered by its officers and board of trustees. In 1962, NEHGS appointed its first professional director, Edgar Packard Dean, a former editor of Foreign Affairs and past director of the Associated Harvard University Clubs. Dean oversaw the Society’s move from Beacon Hill to its present location in the Back Bay and retired in 1972. Dean was succeeded by Richard Donald Pierce, a Unitarian
Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...
minister, librarian and formerly dean (and for a while acting president) of Emerson College
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
, who died in office six months after his appointment.
Pierce was succeeded by James Brugler Bell, who obtained an advanced degree in history from Balliol College, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, and who was a past lecturer at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
and a former candidate for the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. After a tenure of nine years, Bell left NEHGS in 1982. The Society’s finances and morale were at a low point, and it fell to Bell’s successor, Ralph J. Crandall, former editor of The Register and graduate of the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
where he obtained his doctorate, to rebuild the Society’s endowment over the following twenty-three years. Crandall left briefly in 1987 and the directorship was filled by John Winthrop Sears, a former city councilor of Boston and Republican nominee for governor of Massachusetts in 1982. Crandall returned to NEHGS in 1988 and continued to expand the organization. In 2005, Crandall stepped down to became executive director emeritus and concentrate on special projects. He was succeeded by D. Brenton Simons, an author, former Chief Operating Officer and Director of Education at NEHGS, and graduate of Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, who joined the staff in 1993 and initiated its magazine, website, and special publications imprint. In 2006 the position of Executive Director was changed to president and CEO and in 2009 Simons announced a gift pledge of $7.5 million from an anonymous donor, the largest charitable gift ever made in the field of American genealogy. Today, NEHGS has a 22-person Board of Trustees that sets governance policies for the organization at quarterly meetings. A larger Council meets annually and, together with the Board, forms the Council of the Corporation, the statutory voting body of the organization.
Scholars associated with NEHGS in the 20th century included:
- George Andrews Moriarty (1883–1968), an expert on Rhode IslandRhode IslandThe state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
and the English origins of early colonists; - Walter Goodwin Davis (1885–1966), the preeminent MaineMaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
authority; - Mary Lovering Holman (1868–1947), author of numerous genealogies; and
- John Insley Coddington (1902–1991), longtime “dean of American genealogy.”
Noted scholars currently associated with NEHGS include:
- Robert Charles Anderson, Director of the Great Migration Study Project and author of its nine volumes;
- Gary Boyd Roberts, a specialist in presidential ancestry and royal descents;
- New York and West Indian scholar Henry B. Hoff;
- David Curtis Dearborn, a northern New England specialist; and
- Irish-American authority Marie E. Daly.
Current staff members include Thomas R. Wilcox, Jr. formerly executive director of the Maine Maritime Museum, and genealogical authors David Allen Lambert, Michael J. Leclerc, Christopher C. Child, Rhonda M. McClure, and Scott C. Steward.
Many notable figures, including numerous presidents, have been elected members of NEHGS. An original member was John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was the sixth President of the United States . He served as an American diplomat, Senator, and Congressional representative. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later Anti-Masonic and Whig parties. Adams was the son of former...
, elected on February 20, 1845, just prior to the Society’s incorporation. Others elected, by year, include:
- 1845: John Singleton CopleyJohn Singleton CopleyJohn Singleton Copley was an American painter, born presumably in Boston, Massachusetts, and a son of Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Irish. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects...
, Baron Lyndhurst of Lyndhurst, Lord Chancellor, and son of the artist, - 1846: Boston mayors Harrison Gray Otis and Josiah QuincyJosiah Quincy, Jr.Josiah Quincy, Jr. was mayor of Boston , as was his father Josiah Quincy III and grandson Josiah Quincy . He was the author of Figures in the Past . As a member of the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1837, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Massachusetts Board of Education...
, - 1847: Lewis CassLewis CassLewis Cass was an American military officer and politician. During his long political career, Cass served as a governor of the Michigan Territory, an American ambassador, a U.S. Senator representing Michigan, and co-founder as well as first Masonic Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan...
, Henry ClayHenry ClayHenry Clay, Sr. , was a lawyer, politician and skilled orator who represented Kentucky separately in both the Senate and in the House of Representatives...
, Albert Gallatin, Hannibal HamlinHannibal HamlinHannibal Hamlin was the 15th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War...
, Washington IrvingWashington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
, and Daniel WebsterDaniel WebsterDaniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
, - 1859: John TylerJohn TylerJohn Tyler was the tenth President of the United States . A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President . He was the first to succeed to the office of President following the death of a predecessor...
, - 1862: Horatio Alger and Sir John Bernard Burke of Burke’s Peerage
- 1863: Massachusetts governor John Albion AndrewJohn Albion AndrewJohn Albion Andrew was a U.S. political figure. He served as the 25th Governor of Massachusetts between 1861 and 1866 during the American Civil War. He was a guiding force behind the creation of some of the first U.S. Army units of black men—including the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry.-Early...
- 1869: Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
- 1877: Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. HayesRutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States . As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction and the United States' entry into the Second Industrial Revolution...
- 1884: Chester Alan Arthur and British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone
- 1919: Albert I, King of the Belgians, Warren G. HardingWarren G. HardingWarren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States . A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate , as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator...
, and Woodrow WilsonWoodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913... - 1921: Chief Justice Charles Evans HughesCharles Evans HughesCharles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...
, Herbert HooverHerbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, and Elihu Root - 1933: industrialist Andrew Mellon
- 1935: Grace Goodhue Coolidge
- 1995: Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Rosalyn and Jimmy CarterJimmy CarterJames Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Julia ChildJulia ChildJulia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...
, Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, Betty and Gerald FordGerald FordGerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr., is an American literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and...
, Charlton HestonCharlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
, David McCulloughDavid McCulloughDavid Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award....
, and Nancy and Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
(1995) - 2009: Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino
Horatio Alger, John Albion Andrew, and Rutherford B. Hayes all served at various times as officers of NEHGS.
Website
The NEHGS website www.AmericanAncestors.org is one of the most widely used online genealogical resources in the country. More than 15,000 members research on the website every day and an additional 15,000 non-members visit daily. It features nearly 3,000 unique searchable databases containing information on over 113 million people. The extensive NEHGS Library catalog is also fully searchable on the Society’s website. Some of the most popular databases include Social Security Death IndexSocial Security Death Index
The Social Security Death Index is a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File Extract. Most persons who have died since 1962 who had a Social Security Number and whose death has been reported to the Social Security Administration...
, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850, Massachusetts Vital Records 1841-1915, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, The American Genealogist, and Abstracts of Wills, Administrations and Guardianships in NY State, 1787-1835.
The Society’s website, in addition to searchable record content, also offers a variety of other resources such as online seminars, the Online Genealogist, and online exhibits featuring unique items from the Society’s manuscript collection.
In addition to the main website, NEHGS supports a number of other websites providing access to the Society’s expansive collections and expertise across many different time periods and ethnic groups. Other NEHGS websites include:
- www.NewYorkAncestors.org
- www.AfricanAmericanAncestors.org
- www.GreatMigration.org
- www.PlymouthAncestors.org
- www.NotableKin.org
NEHGS launched its first website, www.NEHGS.org in 1996; one of the first non-profit genealogical societies to have an online presence. NEHGS' first website consisted of 38 pages with information about NEHGS services and programs. In 1999, with the introduction of a new magazine New England Ancestors, NEHGS changed its URL to www.NewEnglandAncestors.org, adding important genealogical articles to the website for use by members and the public. In 2001, NEHGS redesigned its website to include data rich content, new articles, and member forums. The most popular database was a full name searchable database of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register.
Headquarters
NEHGS is headquartered at 99-101 Newbury Street in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. NEHGS moved here in 1964 and this is the seventh location for the organization. Prior headquarters included the City Building, Court Square, Room 9 during the years 1846 and 1847; the Massachusetts Block, Court Square for 1847 to 1851; 5 Tremont Street, 3rd floor for 1851 through 1858; 17 Bromfield Street, 3rd floor from 1858 to 1871; 18 Somerset Street – 1871 to 1913; 9 Ashburton Place from 1913 to 1964.The first three floors of NEHGS' present location were built as a branch of the New England Trust Company in 1928, designed by Ralph Coolidge Henry and Henry P. Richmond, successors to noted American architect Guy Lowell
Guy Lowell
Guy Lowell , American architect, was the son of Mary Walcott and Edward Jackson Lowell, and a member of Boston's well-known Lowell family....
. (Lowell, a member of a prominent Boston family, designed the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, the New York State Supreme Court building in New York and many other educational and residential commissions, including many fine gardens. Henry and Richmond finished many projects begun by Guy Lowell, this building being one; the Grosse Point Yacht Club being another. They completed many commissions on their own, including buildings at Colby College
Colby College
Colby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
, Pine Manor, and Philips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.)
When NEHGS moved into its new headquarters in 1964, it added five floors on top of the New England Trust Company building. Today, the floors are used as follows:
• First Floor – Treat Rotunda: reception, public programs and meeting space, book store, and international reference collection
• Second Floor – L. Ted and Alice Richardson Sloane Education Center: meetings and public programs
• Third Floor – board Room and administrative offices
• Fourth Floor – microtext collection
• Fifth Floor – manuscript reading room and local histories as well as the provinces of Canada, including bound volumes of state genealogical society scholarly journals
• Sixth Floor – The R. Stanton Avery Special Collections – archives and manuscript collections.
• Seventh Floor – Ruth Chauncey Bishop Reading Room: reference collections and compiled genealogies
• Eighth Floor – rare books and conservation lab
Collections
The NEHGS research library collections are national in scope and contain significant materials for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and CanadaCanada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The library is open five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday, and its stacks and microtext are “open” except for rare books and manuscripts. NEHGS collections include 200,000 bound volumes; 5,000+ linear feet of original manuscripts; and 100,000 rolls of microfilm. NEHGS has an extensive fine arts collection including noted works on canvas or paper by Joseph Badger, John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley was an American painter, born presumably in Boston, Massachusetts, and a son of Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Irish. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects...
, Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Jonathan Mason, Jr., Rembandt Peale, and John Ritto Penniman
John Ritto Penniman
John Ritto Penniman was a painter in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He created portraits, landscapes, and allegorical paintings, as well as designs for engravings, such as the official seal of the city of Boston in 1822. He also worked as an assistant to Gilbert Stuart. Penniman died in 1841 in...
. Items from its collection of American furniture were featured in Antiques Magazine.
Publications
In line with the Society’s mission, NEHGS publishes books on families, genealogists, and historians, including authoritative guides, source record compilations, compiled genealogies, and family histories — all with an aim to preserve, interpret, and communicate reliable genealogical data. The Newbury Street Press imprint is America’s leading publisher of privately sponsored family histories. Working in direct consultation with NEHGS members, professional researchers, and quality printers, the goal of Newbury Street Press is to publish books of lasting value to families, genealogists, and historians.Among the Society’s recent additions to the genealogical canon are Genealogical Writing in the 21st Century, New Englanders in the 1600s, A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries, Ancestors of American Presidents: 2009 edition, The Descendants of Henry Sewall, and Twenty Families of Color in Massachusetts.
The New England Historical and Genealogical Register
Published quarterly since 1847, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register is the flagship journal of American genealogy and the oldest in the field. A wide variety of genealogies and source material have been published in the Register for over 160 years, with an emphasis on New England. Authoritative compiled genealogies have always been a primary focus of the Register. Thousands of New England families have been treated in the pages of the journal, and many more are referred to incidentally. Typically, these articles solve a genealogical problem, identify immigrant origins, or present a full-scale treatment of multiple generations. Henry B. Hoff was appointed editor of the Register in 2001. In October 2009, an annual supplement to the Register, American Ancestors Journal, was introduced.The Great Migration Study Project
The aim of the Great Migration Study ProjectGreat Migration Study Project
The Great Migration Study Project is an ongoing scholarly endeavor to catalogue all emigrants to colonial New England between 1620 and 1643...
is to compile comprehensive genealogical and biographical accounts of every person who settled in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
between 1620 and 1640. Between these years about twenty thousand English men, women, and children crossed the Atlantic to settle New England. (the Puritan great migration). Initiated in 1988 and directed by Robert Charles Anderson
Robert Charles Anderson
Robert Charles Anderson, Director of the , was educated as a biochemist and served in the United States Army in electronics intelligence. In 1972 he discovered his early New England ancestry and thereafter devoted his time and energies to genealogical research...
, the project is an ongoing initiative of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Publications of the Great Migration Study Project:
• The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620–1633, [first series], 3 vols. (NEHGS, 1995) The first phase of the Great Migration Study Project identifies and describes all those Europeans who settled in New England prior to the end of 1633 – over 900 early New England families.
• The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634–1635, [second series], 6 vols. to date:. (NEHGS, 1999—) During this time period, approximately 1,300 families (or unattached men and women) arrived in New England. Each volume contains about 200 individual sketches.
• The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
(NEHGS, 2007) This volume contains over 200 sketches on every family or individual known to have resided in Plymouth Colony from the arrival of the Mayflower in 1620 until 1633.
• The Great Migration Newsletter. Available in print or online, this publication complements the individual Great Migration sketches, and examines the broad issues in understanding the lives and times of New England's first immigrants. Article topics include the settlement of early New England towns, migration patterns, 17th-century passenger lists, church records, land records, and more.
Education
NEHGS provides various educational opportunities relating to genealogy and family history. Most of educational programs are led and/or taught by members of the NEHGS staff, though some include invited guests.NEHGS offers a series of research tours, lectures, seminars, and other events throughout the year. For over thirty years, NEHGS has conducted a week-long tour to the Family History Library
Family History Library
The Family History Library is a genealogical research facility in downtown Salt Lake City. The library is open to the public free of charge and is operated by FamilySearch, the genealogical arm of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .-History:The origins of the Family History...
in Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
and frequently offers opportunities to research and visit in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Washington D.C., England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, and other areas of the world. For more than twenty years, NEHGS has sponsored a week-long summer “Come Home to New England” program in Boston.
The Society has also developed online seminars many of which are taught by their staff genealogists on a wide variety of topics such as Internet searching, beginning genealogical research, organizing, preparing lineage society applications, and others.
Membership
NEHGS offers annual and lifetime membership options, several Premium membership levels, and a membership designed specifically for families. The most popular level of membership is the Research level. Membership includes subscriptions to two NEHGS publications, American Ancestors magazine and The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Members enjoy full access to the Society’s website, www.NewEnglandAncestors.org, as well as unlimited use of the Society’s research library in Boston. Certain Premium membership dues are partially tax-deductable.Media coverage
In January 2010, NEHGS announced that President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
is a 10th cousin to then newly elected Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown
Scott Brown
Scott Brown is a United States senator.Scott Brown may also refer to:-Sportsmen:*Scott Brown , American college football coach of Kentucky State...
. The two share a common ancestor named Richard Singletary who died in Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 60,879 at the 2010 census.Located on the Merrimack River, it began as a farming community that would evolve into an important industrial center, beginning with sawmills and gristmills run by water power. In the...
in 1687.
In October 2009, the Society announced that Hollywood actors and friends Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
and Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
are related to each other. They are 10th cousins, once removed through a common ancestor named William Knowlton of Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
, who died in 1655.
In April 2008, NEHGS released a story on interesting kinships of the then three remaining presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
. Barack Obama was shown as a 9th cousin to actor Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...
while Hillary Clinton was noted as a 9th cousin twice removed of Pitt’s wife, actress Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
. Genealogists also confirmed that Obama is related to seven former U.S. Presidents, including George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
, and James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
.
In March 2008, it was announced that NEHGS discovered in its collections the earliest known photograph of Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
with her teacher Anne Sullivan
Anne Sullivan
Johanna "Anne" Mansfield Sullivan Macy , also known as Annie Sullivan, was an American teacher best known as the instructor and companion of Helen Keller.-Early life:Sullivan was born on April 14, 1866 in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts...
. The photo, taken in July 1888, shows 8-year old Keller holding a doll. “Doll” was the first word Sullivan taught Keller in sign language. It is also the only known photograph of Keller with a doll.
Further reading
- Schutz, John A. A Noble Pursuit: The Sesquicentennial History of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1845–1995, NEHGS: 1995. 247 pp.
- Weil, François. "John Farmer and the Making of American Genealogy," New England Quarterly 2007 80(3): 408-434