I have a few ancestors who should be named on these lists. . . do you? This week you can check out all online searchable databases related to The Great Migration — those early American colonists who came across the Atlantic from 1620 to 1640 — at the New England Historic and Genealogical Society website AmericanAncestors.org.
If you’re a frequent visitor to The Family Curator you may know that NEHGS and the AmericanAncestors.org website are among my very favorite places to research, not only because I have New England roots but because I love discovering names from history books listed right alongside my lesser known ancestors. It makes my people seem more real somehow, to know they too had a place in history.
I didn’t learn about my New England family history until fairly recently; unfortunately, shortly after my younger son graduated from a Massachusetts college and came back to California to live at home. Oh the research trips I could have enjoyed! Fortunately, Mr. Curator likes New England too, and we’ve been able to visit those ancestral states many times since graduation day, with a few productive stopovers to research at NEHGS on Newbury Street. I won’t be traveling this weekend, though, except virtually at AmericanAncestors.org.
More details from NEHGS:
Inspiration for a nation—born in the Great Migration.
To salute the anniversary of our nation’s independence, NEHGS announces FREE access to all online searchable databases related to the Great Migration on AmericanAncestors.org. A unique foundation of governance and religion was brought by the 20,000 men, women, and children who crossed the Atlantic between 1620 and 1640, seeking opportunity and relief in New England, in the period known as the Great Migration. These are the Mayflower names, the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and the families that delight and provide rich insights for genealogists and family historians. Since 1988 NEHGS has sponsored the Great Migration Study Project. The results are yours to research FREE all week, starting Wednesday, July 1, through Wednesday, July 8.
