This is the time of the year when people ask me to recommend good
gift books for the genealogists in their families or on their gift list. What a difficult question! Everyone’s family is different, and so
everyone’s book requirements are different. But if you have New England
colonial ancestry, these are some of my favorite books. They just might become
favorite books for the genealogist on your gift list.
Evidence Explained:
Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, by Elizabeth Shown
Mills, Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 2nd edition, 2009
Genealogist’s Handbook
for New England Research, by Michael Leclerc, New England Historic Genealogical
Society, 5th Edition, 2012
A Guide to
Massachusetts Cemeteries, by David Lambert, New England Historic
Genealogical Society, 2nd edition, 2009.
New Englanders in the 1600s:
A Guide to Genealogical Research Published Between 1980 and 2010 (Expanded
Edition), by Martin Hollick, New England Historic Genealogical Society,
2012
Genealogical
Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, by Noyes, Libby and Davis, New
England Historic Genealogical Society, 2011.
The Great Migration
Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620 – 1633 (three volumes), and, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634 -1635 (seven
volumes), by Anderson, New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Nutfield, New
Hampshire Favorites:
History of Londonderry,
By Rev. E. L. Parker, 1851. This book is
out of print, but widely available in used book stores and online book
shops. It is also available to read
online at archive.org but there is nothing like having this good reference book
right at your elbow.
Index to Genealogies
in New Hampshire Town Histories, by William Copely, New Hampshire
Historical Society, 2000. This is my favorite place to look up surnames from
New Hampshire.
Nutfield Rambles,
by Richard Holmes, Peter Randall Publisher, 2007
The Road to
Derry: A Brief History, by Richard
Holmes, History Press, 2009.
Mayflower Favorites:
Here I Shall Die
Ashore: Stephen Hopkins: Bermuda Castaway, Jamestown Survivor and Mayflower
Pilgrim, by Caleb Johnson, Xlibris Publishing, 2007. This is the story of my favorite Pilgrim,
Stephen Hopkins, who led an adventurous life worthy of a Hollywood action
movie.
Mayflower: A Story of
Courage, Community and War, by Nathaniel Philbrick, Penguin Books,
2007. The history of the Pilgrims and
the first fifty five years of the Plymouth Colony. This book the relationship between the
Wampanoags and the English settlers, right up to King Phillip’s War.
Mayflower Bastard: A
Stranger Among the Pilgrims, by David Lindsay, St. Martin’s Griffin,
2004. The story of five year old Richard
More, illegitimate son of a father who put his four children (all under age
seven) on board the Mayflower as indentured servants.
Of Plymouth Plantation,
by William Bradford, edited by Caleb Johnson, Xlibris Publishing, 2006. William Bradford’s first hand history of the
Plymouth Colony, newly revised and edited by Caleb Johnson with footnotes,
photos and illustrations.
Pilgrim Migration:
Immigrants to Plymouth Colony 1620 - 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, New
England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007.
More than 200 sketches of families or individuals who resided in the
Plymouth Colony before 1633.
Strangers and
Pilgrims, Travellers and Sojourners, by Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, The General
Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2009.
This is the comprehensive history by Dr. Bangs, who has lived in Leiden,
Netherlands for 30 years researching the Pilgrims.
The Times of Their Lives:
Life, Love and Death in Plymouth Colony, by James Deetz & Patricia
Scott Deetz, anchor Publishing, 2001. James
Deetz is an anthropologist specializing in colonial history, and his wife is a
historian. In this book they describe the
Pilgrims as they really were- humans who were hard drinking, adulterous, and
committed petty and serious crimes. This
is not the history you heard in grade school!
Just for Fun:
Ancestors of American
Presidents, by Gary Boyd Roberts, New England Historic Genealogical Society,
2009- 2nd edition was updated to include Barack Obama and new information
about previous presidents. Includes 160
charts and a comprehensive index.
Becky, Grandmother of
New Hampshire: An Historical Novel, by Alice Clark Haubrich, 1966. Out of print but easily found in used
bookstores and antique shops around New
England and online at places like Abebooks.com and in libraries. Contains twelve pages of genealogy and charts
from some of New Hampshire’s earliest colonial families.
Roots: The Saga of an
American Family, by Alex Haley, 1976, still printed and available
everywhere. This is the classic novel
that got me started in genealogy, and is being rediscovered by new
genealogists. The story has been
disproved, but it is still a fantastic read.
Slaves in the Family,
by Edward Ball, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014. This book is being reprinted again as a
reissue with a new preface by the author.
It is the story of Ball’s efforts to track down and meet the descendants
of his family’s slaves in South Carolina.
The Seven Daughters of
Eve: The Science that Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry, by Bryan Sykes, W. W.
Norton & Company, 2002. The story of Dr. Sykes's early studies of European DNA which found that 90 percent of Europeans
descend from seven women who lived 40,000 to 10,000 years ago.
The Wordy Shipmates,
by Sarah Vowell, Riverhead Publishing, 2008 – This book was on the New York
Times Bestseller list, it is a humorous, irreverent look at the Puritans,
especially John Winthrop.
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Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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