Rhode Island Family History Societies


This section lists the societies of Rhode Island, giving details about each one and what resources and publications they offer.

Statewide and Regional Societies

County and Other Societies

Rhode Island Black Heritage Society

The society is one of the oldest African Heritage associations in America.  Its aims are to preserve documents and artefacts relating to African-American and African descendant’s history and accomplishments and to record, retain and interpret historical facts.  

Website:
https://www.facebook.com/RIBlackHeritage/

Rhode Island Genealogical Society

The association was established in 1975 by people wishing to trace their families and finding it difficult to trace them.  

Their membership has grown to over 500, with members from United States, Canada and Mexico.  

Their aims are to preserve genealogical records, to research and publish these findings and to promote the development of libraries.  They also wish to acquire library materials to conduct accurate genealogical research.

Many of the Society’s documents are available in Greenville Public Library. These documents include:

  • 1900 and 1920 Federal Census: Catalogues of Microfilm Copies
  • Abstracts of Probate Records
  • Bible Records
  • Cemetery Transcripts
  • City Directories
  • DAR Lineage Books
  • DAR Patriot Index
  • Genealogical Reference Books
  • Genealogies
  • Mayflower Books
  • Ship Registers

Many publications are available for sale, which comprise:

  • 1797 The Year the Elephant Visited Providence
  • Aboard the Fabre Line to Providence
  • Cemetery Transcripts
  • Church Registers
  • Court of Trials 1671-1704
  • Daniel Stedman’s Journal 1826-1859
  • Diaries of J. Irving Maxson 1898-1923
  • Diary of Captain Samuel Tillinghast of Warwick 1757-1766

Publications available for sale also incorporate:

  • Genealogies
  • Historical Cemeteries of South Kingstown
  • Huling Genealogy: Descendants of James and Margaret Huling of Newport Rhode Island and Lewes, Delawa
  • Newport Gravestone Pictures
  • Newport Colonial Burial Grounds
  • Richard Bowen (1594?-1675) of Rehoboth, Massachusetts and His Descendants
  • The Tillinghast’s in America – The First Four Generations
  • Town Records

Website:
http://www.rigensoc.org

Rhode Island Historical Society

The association was established in 1822.  Many resources relating to the history of the State can be accessed, which incorporate:

  • Manuscripts dating from 1635 such as Business Papers, Government Documents and Organisational Records
  • Miscellaneous Collections
  • Personal Papers

A Master List of Finding Aids is available on the site, which lists the Manuscript Collections by subject.

The Graphics Collection includes:

  • Architectural Drawings
  • Broadsides
  • Maps
  • Oral Histories
  • Photographs
  • Postcards
  • Prints

Their Printed Collection dates from 1589 and includes:

  • Corporate and Municipal Publications
  • Imprints and Broadsides
  • Local Histories
  • Newspapers
  • Military Records
  • Social Histories

It is possible to search this collection using NETOP, the Library’s on-line catalogue.

Website:
http://www.rihs.org

Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association

Many resources are accessible, which comprise:

  • Newspapers(Jewish Herald, Jewish Voice, The Jewish Voice and Herald)
  • Obituaries
  • Providence City Directories

Some Photographs are also on the site.

Website:
http://www.rijha.org


County Societies

Boston to Providence Genealogical Society

Numerous databases are accessible, which incorporate Family Vital Statistics from various Families in certain Towns and Cities in Massachusetts. 

Details of the Whipple Family Vital Statistics in Cumberland and Providence are also accessible, along with information regarding various towns in Massachusetts that they are specifically interested in. 

A list of Libraries and Clerks of Towns in Bristol County, Norfolk County and various other Counties in Massachusetts is also available.

A list of Surnames currently being researched by Members is on the site.

Website:
http://www.iment.com/bos2prov


Little Compton Historical Society

Many resources are available, which comprise:

  • Cemetery Transcripts
  • Census Returns
  • Church Documents
  • Family Papers
  • Photographs
  • Postcards
  • School Registers
  • Topographical Map 

Some publications are available for sale, which include:

  • If Jane Should Want to be Sold: Stories of Enslavement, Indenture and Freedom in Little Compton, Rhode Island
  • The History of Little Compton 1660-1820, 1820-1950
  • The Life and Works of Sydney Burleigh
  • Little Compton Families
  • Little Compton Remembers World War II, 1945-1995
  • Portraits in Time, Three Centuries of Remarkable Residents, 1600-1900
  • Remembering Adamsville
  • Sakonnet Point Perspectives
  • The Stories Houses Tell
  • Terra Nova, Vida Nova – The Portuguese in Little Compton

Website:
http://www.littlecompton.org


Newport Historical Society

Many archives can be accessed, which include:

  • African-American History Collection
  • Church Registers
  • Diaries
  • Family Papers
  • Journals
  • Merchants’ Papers
  • Ships Log Books
  • Town and City Records

It is possible to access a database of their Archives and Manuscript Collections on the site and on RIAMCO, the Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online.

Their Library Collection includes Biographies, Autobiographies, Diaries and Journals of prominent Personalities of New England.  These include Politicians, Military Heroes, Theologians and Merchants.

In addition, resources held by the society also include:

  • American Wills Proved in London and Canterbury
  • Burke’s Peerage
  • Census Data
  • Genealogical Gleanings in England
  • History of the Commoners

A list of surnames in their Genealogical Collections is on the site.

Website:
https://newporthistory.org/


Pettaquamscutt Historical Society

Originally founded in 1958, the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society, from May 2016, operated under the new name of South County History Centre. 

Many resources can be accessed in their Research Library, which include:

  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Family Files
  • Genealogies
  • Local Histories
  • Manuscript Holdings
  • Maps
  • Photographs

Some publications are available for sale, incorporating:

  • The American Family of John Watson of the Narragansett County
  • Crime, Punishment, and the Washington County Jail: Hard Time in Kingston
  • Historic Buildings of South County
  • Jailed for Preaching: The Autobiography of Cato Pearce, a Freed Slave from Washington County
  • Lost South Kingstown
  • Picturing History: Wakefield’s Post Office Mural of 1939
  • Rhode Island: The Ocean State – An Illustrated History
  • South Kingstown Council Records 1771-1795

Website:
http://southcountyhistorycenter.org/

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