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| Connecticut Societies and Archives |
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It is wise to acquaint yourself with any repository which you might visit by writing to the appropriate archive or library in advance. Every repository has published materials that introduce its collections and research policy. State archives and historical agencies also have Internet sites that provide the same information. Some even have downloadable databases for some or parts of their collections.
- Connecticut State Library, History and Genealogy Unit, 231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford 06106
(203) 566-3690 or 3692
- Connecticut State Archives, 231 Capitol Ave, Hartford, CT 06106 , Tel: 860-757-6595, Fax: 860-757-6542;
Office Hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday.
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"Genealogists are generally positive and energetic, and most are ready to share their findings or research experience with anyone they can help. There are hundreds of genealogical societies at the grass-roots level. Knowledge of the genealogical community will place you in the midst of much activity, increase your productivity, and alert you to the importance of research standards and etiquette."
Sandra Hargreaves Luebking,
Editor of FGS Forum,
Co-editor of The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy
Because family history research relies greatly upon records found at the county level, many local societies represent counties. Organizations also form around shared interests. Ethnic or religious origins account for many groups, such as the Polish Genealogical Society of America and P.O.I.N.T. (Pursuing Our Italian Names Together). Societies also form around common locales of origin for members’ ancestors; hence, the Palatines to America and Germans from Russia societies. To locate these and other societies, consult Juliana Szucs Smith’s The Ancestry Family Historian’s Address Book. It lists addresses, telephone and fax numbers, and Internet addresses of thousands of organizations throughout the United States.
For almost every state there is a state genealogical society, a state genealogical council, or both. In addition to their own work, state-level groups sometimes help coordinate the efforts of local societies within the state. Their publications, newsletters and quarterlies, supplement those produced by the local societies.
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Search The PERiodical Source Index
Statewide or regional publications include the following:
[ see specific county page for individual county list ]
- New Haven Genealogical Magazine
(formerly The Families of Ancient New Haven and now The American Genealogist) was begun by Donald Lines Jacobus and still sets a standard for its depth and documentation
- Connecticut Nutmegger
(1968–present) is a current publication of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists.
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Search Historical Newspapers
The Connecticut Courant served not only Connecticut but the burgeoning frontier to its north in Massachusetts and Vermont and west in New York. It is an important early source for marriages and deaths. Births are rare in its pages. Reports from the frontier are quite common including land advertisements, letters from former residents, and social items. It is widely available on microfilm and an index (1764–1820) by Doris Cook is available at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Donald Gustafson, A Preliminary Checklist of Connecticut Newspapers, 1755–1975, 2 vols. (Hartford, Conn.: Connecticut State Library, 1978) indicates what is extant and where it is available. A state-wide Hale Index (1750 to ca. 1870), at the Connecticut State Library and available on microfilm, surveyed more than ninety of the newspapers for marriages and deaths. A large collection of newspapers themselves are on microfilm to the present.
Between 1910 and 1967, the Hartford Times ran a genealogical query column similar to that of the Boston Evening Transcript, which has been indexed and microfilmed by the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown but distributed to many major research libraries.
While records of birth, marriage, and death are the most commonly sought and the most consistently helpful records, only the genealogist’s imagination and resourcefulness limit newspapers’ usefulness in supplying clues about historical events, local history, probate court and legal notices, real estate transactions, political biographies, announcements, notices of new and terminated partnerships, business advertisements, and notices for settling debts.
Newspapers can provide at least a partial substitute for nonexistent civil records. For example, a person’s obituary may have appeared in a newspaper even when civil death records for that person do not exist. And newspapers are an important source of marriage records, particularly in those states where civil recording of marriages was essentially nonexistent until the twentieth century.
Unlike official records, newspapers are not limited to a particular geographical area. They often include reports of the weddings of local citizens (even those that occurred in a neighboring county or another state), and they sometimes report visits of geographically distant relatives or the visits of former local residents. They often published death notices of individuals who had left the area long before but who still had local family or friends as well. In each case the newspaper account can identify the date and place of an event, thus opening the possibility of turning up additional documentation in other sources.
The first step in searching a newspaper is to identify those which served the area of interest and which have survived. The three most necessary tools are bibliographies (What was published?), inventories of library and depository holdings (Where is it?), and indexes (How do I find what I want in it?).
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