Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House: A Designer's Dream
Join Kristen Weiss and Dr. Nora Ellen Carleson in a virtual exploration of the summer home of Henry Davis Sleeper, one of America's first professional interior designers. Learn about the home’s dazzling and eclectic collection of curiosities, colored glass, folk art, and antiquities in every nook and cranny. Learn More
Upcoming Online Seminar, December 4–18
Researching in New England Town Records: 17th through 19th Centuries
This five-session online seminar will delve into these important resources for New England in the 17th through 19th centuries. Our experts will show you how to get the most out of these records for your family history research. Learn More
Fall 2025 Issue of American Ancestors Magazine Now Available
This issue of American Ancestors magazine explores Revolutionary War topics, with a focus on Loyalists. Other articles discuss the Hard Winter of 1779–1780; the life and service of a Black Revolutionary soldier from Westborough, Massachusetts; and the new second edition of The Great Migration Directory. As always, the issue contains information about our membership benefits, news, events, and educational opportunities. Email us to share your thoughts on the issue! American Ancestors magazine is a benefit of membership. Join American Ancestors today to receive this and other great membership benefits. Read Now
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
This Week's Survey:
Ancestors or Relatives Who Were Published Authors
Share your story! Each week in our Readers Respond column, we publish a selection of reader-submitted stories related to our most recent survey. Submissions must be 150 words or fewer and include your full name, city, and state. Published responses will be edited for clarity and length.
Ancestors Who Lived in New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont)
Total: 2,990 Responses
5%, None of my ancestors ever lived in New England.
20%, I previously lived in New England.
12%, I have lived only in New England.
3%, I don't know whether my ancestors moved in and out of New England.
23%, I currently live in New England.
58%, At least one of my ancestors who was born outside of New England settled in New England permanently.
72%, At least one of my ancestors who was born in New England moved out of the region permanently.
27%, At least one of my ancestors who was born in New England and left the region permanently had at least one descendant who settled in New England.
85%, At least one of my ancestors was born in New England and lived only in New England.
21%, At least one of my ancestors moved away from New England and then moved back after living outside of New England for at least two years.
Readers Respond
Mary Beth Norton, Ithaca, New York: My paternal grandparents, Clark Norton and Jessie Kirk, married in Ludington, Michigan, in 1899. When I compiled my family genealogy, I learned that they were seventh cousins—which they did not know. Both were descended from the 1641 marriage of Samuel and Dorcas Gatchell (or Getchell) of Salisbury, Massachusetts. Both sets of descendants (one from a son and one from a daughter) migrated first to upstate New York and then to Michigan, following different trajectories and timelines, but both ended up in Ludington by the late 1890s.
Patty Malgieri, Bronxville, New York: My great-great-grandmother Clarissa Roberts is a descendant of Thomas Roberts, the last governor of the Dover, New Hampshire, settlement before it merged into Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thomas was a member of the London Fishmongers Guild and emigrated to Dover by 1640 to start a fishing business with Edward Hilton.
Richard N. Platt, Jr., Milford, Connecticut: My grandfathers, Nathan Dwight Platt and Irvin W. Sanford, were Yale classmates, Class of 1898. My Platt ancestors always lived in Milford, Connecticut. The Sanfords were also descended from an original Milford settler, but my branch moved to Wayne County, Pennsylvania. Grandfather Sanford later settled in Columbus, Ohio, where my mother was born. In the late 1920s, he and his family moved “back” to Milford. Grandpa Sanford looked up his old friend Platt, and that’s how my parents met.
Twila Ackley Brown, Wichita, Kansas: My ancestor Nicholas Ackley (1635-1695), born in England, came to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1653. Later, he and twenty-seven other young men established the town of Haddam, on the Connecticut River south of Hartford. In 2011, I discovered the Haddam town plat and found that Nicholas had property next to Abram Dibble. In 2003, my daughter married David Dibble, descendant of Abram.
Vickie Meyers, Quaker Hill, Connecticut: My ancestor Tristram (Trustrum) Dodge, a fisherman, was part of a group that purchased Block Island (now part of Rhode Island) from the Massachusetts Bay Colony after the Pequot War. Tristram settled there with his family in 1661. Later, some of Tristram’s children moved to Connecticut. Subsequent generations moved from Connecticut to Vermont and then to Ohio, where I grew up. As an adult, I moved to Connecticut and immediately felt at home. Maybe my early New England ancestors were calling me.
Dr. Peter L Sheerin, Beverly Hill, California: I’m a fourth-generation Red Sox fan. As a very little boy, I learned my first cuss words in the back yard of my grandfather’s house in Maine as he listened to the Red Sox on a huge transistor radio.
10 Million Names Receives the Shirley M. Barnes Records Access Award
We are delighted to announce that 10 Million Names has received the Shirley M. Barnes Records Access Award from the Massachusetts Genealogical Council! This award recognizes organizations that have made outstanding contributions to improving access to historical records. For 10 Million Names, this award honors not only our work, but also the generations whose names and stories we seek to restore. Every name recovered brings us closer to truth, healing, and connection.
The Wish to Be Seen This essay explores the life and legacy of Omar ibn Said—a member of the Fula people, a devout Muslim—and a scholar, who was seized in what is now Senegal and enslaved in South Carolina.
Spotlight: Carson City Clerk-Recorder’s Office, Nevada
by Valerie Beaudrault
Carson City, the capital of Nevada, is located on the state’s western border. The Carson City Clerk-Recorder’s Office has made a number of indexes available on its website. Click the Browse Our File button to download the Genealogy Master Index. The alphabetical index comprises more than 13,000 records. There are birth records (1867-1857), death records (1887-1957), Public Health Officer reports (1911-1941), citizenship records (1868-1926), and a cemetery index (1850-present). The data fields include persons (name), record type code, person type, reference information, document date, and two comment fields. The record type code indicates the collection in which the record is found. Search Now
As a family historian, you know that wills are important in your research—but have you created a will for yourself? Free Will, an easy and free online will creation tool, will guide you step-by-step through identifying beneficiaries for your assets, supporting the causes that are important to you, and planning for the preservation of your research. Learn More
