This book is a collection of the early records of the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, from 1638 to 1709. The records contain vital information about the town's early settlers, including births, deaths, marriages, and land transactions. This book is an invaluable resource for genealogists, historians, and anyone interested in the early history of Portsmouth and Rhode Island as a whole. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from The Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth: Edited in Accordance With a Resolution of the General Assembly This old book of records, in spite of its long period of useful ness, is yet fairly well preserved. Its evident lack of covers during a part of its existence has permitted perhaps two dozen pages at each end of the book to become frayed and torn, some almost to the inner edge. The present substantial binding was put on during the term of Richard Sherman as town clerk. Since that time the volume has been carefully kept, although the age and brittleness of the paper have rendered it liable to con stant danger. That a few of the leaves have become torn and lost, even since then, may be seen by comparing the present transcript with that made by John R. Bartlett in editing the [mode [sland Colonial Records. Mr. Bartlett, in transcribing a portion of the records from 1639 to 1646, evidently had access in 1856 to a somewhat less mutilated volume than the existing one. A careful comparison, however, will show that the tran script in the Colonial Records is not at all to be relied upon for accuracy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Genealogists and other historical researchers have valued the first two editions of this work, often referred to as the genealogist's bible."" The new edition continues that tradition. Intended as a handbook and a guide to selecting, locating, and using appropriate primary and secondary resources, The Source also functions as an instructional tool for novice genealogists and a refresher course for experienced researchers. More than 30 experts in this field--genealogists, historians, librarians, and archivists--prepared the 20 signed chapters, which are well written, easy to read, and include many helpful hints for getting the most out of whatever information is acquired. Each chapter ends with an extensive bibliography and is further enriched by tables, black-and-white illustrations, and examples of documents. Eight appendixes include the expected contact information for groups and institutions that persons studying genealogy and history need to find. ""

The idea of covenant was at the heart of early New England society. In this singular book David Weir explores the origins and development of covenant thought in America by analyzing the town and church documents written and signed by seventeenth-century New Englanders. Unmatched in the breadth of its scope, this study takes into account all of the surviving covenants in all of the New England colonies. Weir's comprehensive survey of seventeenth-century covenants leads to a more complex picture of early New England than what emerges from looking at only a few famous civil covenants like the Mayflower Compact. His work shows covenant theology being transformed into a covenantal vision for society but also reveals the stress and strains on church-state relationships that eventually led to more secularized colonial governments in eighteenth-century New England. He concludes that New England colonial society was much more "English" and much less "American" than has often been thought, and that the New England colonies substantially mirrored religious and social change in Old England.