New England, historiska och genealogiska register, 1847-2011

This database contains volumes of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, a quarterly publication of historical and genealogical information relating to New England.

Historical Background

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) was formed in 1845, and in 1847, they published the first issue of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. The NEHGS is the oldest genealogical society in the United States, and the Register, likewise, is the country’s oldest genealogical journal.

What You May Find in the Records

The Register has published a wide variety of material over its history, much of it focused on New England families. In the pages of the Register you can find histories, compiled genealogies, indexes, biographical sketches, abstracts of wills, birth records, marriage records, death records, lists of early settlers, memoirs and remembrances, pedigrees, entries from journals, letters, descendant reports, copied church records, inscriptions from headstones, proceedings of historical societies, and notifications of books recently published on genealogy, among other items.

These records are often replete with genealogical details such as

• name
• birth date
• father’s name
• mother’s name
• death date
• age at death
• residence
• spouse
• marriage date
• spouse’s father

Because of the variety of information and formats in the Register, not every name or date has been extracted and indexed in this database. So after your search, you may also want to browse the collection for additional ancestors who might be mentioned in the text. Volumes are organized by genealogical record, not choronologically. Images are available to browse for volumes published through 1922. Images from later volumes may be accessed via NEHGS.