The following is quoted from this weeks Eastman's Onlin Genealogy
Newletter.
Anyone with Chapman roots in Ct may find this site very useful.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
" - Colonial Connecticut Records Online
Sooner or later, anyone researching ancestors in colonial
Connecticut is going to look for a standard reference entitled,
"Connecticut (Colony). The Public Records of the Colony of
Connecticut, from April 1636 to October 1776." This compilation of
early Connecticut records was originally transcribed and published
by Brown & Parsons, a publishing firm in Hartford. Access to these
records recently got a whole lot easier.
"The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, from April 1636
to October 1776" is a very extensive collection of records from
the towns of Connecticut and the colonial legislature. Researchers
in the nineteenth century painstakingly transcribed documents from
original manuscripts and then created the pages of these books
with handset type. The results were printed as a collection of 15
volumes, totaling thousands of pages. The first volume was
published in 1850 with the final volume becoming available in1890.
These books list births, marriages and deaths but also contain a
lot more information of interest to genealogists and historians
alike. "The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut" is rich
in historical, social, economic, political, and cultural data
relating to the colony of Connecticut. For example, users can find
information on what types of punishments were handed down to
lawbreakers in 17th century Connecticut, what people were growing
on their farms, and what was happening in Connecticut during the
dawn of the American Revolution.
In the past, there have been some difficulties for genealogists
who wanted to use this wealth of material. First of all, there are
very few copies of "The Public Records of the Colony of
Connecticut, from April 1636 to October 1776" in existence.
Purchasing new copies of this 15 volume, 150-year old publication
is almost impossible. A few reprint companies might produce
copies, but the price tag would be well beyond the reach of
private individuals and probably more than what most public
libraries could spend. As a result, these large printed volumes
are only found in libraries within Connecticut plus a few major
genealogy libraries around the country. Now, thanks to the World
Wide Web, genealogists anywhere in the world can access these 15
volumes of Colonial Connecticut Records without leaving home.
The Colonial Connecticut Records (CCR) Project is a digital
collection created by staff at the University of Connecticut
Libraries, with the majority of funding provided by the
Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. David F. Avery is
the CCR Project Manager and Heidi N. Abbey is the Digital
Collections Librarian. Quoting from the project's Web page:
The project aims to bring the colonial history of Connecticut
alive and more accessible to users worldwide by the online
delivery of the complete, digitized volumes of the Public
Records of the Colony of Connecticut, 1636-1776. By making the
texts available online, not only for the University of
Connecticut community but also for users worldwide, our team
of digitization specialists is focusing on delivering
historical Connecticut information to researchers regardless
of space and time.
This project has been four years in the making and developed
directly to fulfill the research needs of the students,
faculty, and staff of the University of Connecticut. We would
like to acknowledge the staff at the Mashantucket Pequot
Museum and Research Center for their expertise, equipment, and
time in helping to formulate the first phase of the project.
In addition, we wish to thank the staff at the Connecticut
State Library who so generously donated new, high-quality
images of the Public Records that are currently being used
throughout CCR. These new images were digitized by Northern
Micrographics from publications owned by the Connecticut State
Library.
Currently, it is possible to access scanned images of all
fifteen volumes by browsing an A-Z subject index, searching by
date, or searching by volume and page number. Although full-
text and keyword access to the text is not yet available,
future phases of the project will most certainly incorporate
this level of advanced access.
Steve Wieda, the University of Connecticut's webmaster, designed
an Access database for the subject headings found in each of the
15 indices. Next, the Electronic Scriptorium created the indexes.
The Electronic Scriptorium is a company that specializes in
scanning and inputting data to create digital resources.
I spent some time this week looking at the Colonial Connecticut
Records Project Web site. I found excellent images that are easy
to read. The user can browse through the subject headings, click
on a page number, and then view the corresponding image of the
printed page.
By clicking on the Browse A-Z Index, the user can choose a volume
covering the timeframe of interest. The user can then browse
alphabetically through a list of individuals' names mentioned in
each volume. The user can next click on the appropriate pages
corresponding to the subject heading. The desired pages will then
be displayed.
The images are presented in a Web browser in Adobe's popular
Acrobat format, normally referred to as "PDF files." All that is
needed to view the images is any modern Web browser and Adobe's
free Acrobat software for Windows, Macintosh, or Linux. Not only
are the images easy to read on the screen, but I found that I
could also print them on a local printer or save the images to my
hard drive. If I want to record a source in my genealogy database,
I can give the name of the publication, volume number, page,
repository where found, etc., and I can also include an image of
the page I cite. That's an excellent example of citing a source.
The pages of "The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut,
from April 1636 to October 1776" are only stored as images. The
individual words have not been transcribed; however, the producers
have created an index of all the names, which forms the basis of
the A-Z Index. You can find a person's name in the index and then
go to the appropriate page(s). However, you cannot search for each
individual word on each page. (Full-text searching is promised as
a future effort.)
Next, you need to check the index for each volume independently.
That is, you can check the index for volume one. Then you can
check the index for volume two, and so on. There is no capability
to search the entire index of all volumes at one time. Again, that
is planned as a future enhancement. In my case I didn't find this
"restriction" to be more than a minor annoyance. The volumes are
arranged by date, and most of the time I knew the approximate date
that I was interested in. In most cases, I only had to look in the
indexes of two or three volumes. However, anyone doing a complete
study of all family members would face a larger task. Even such an
extended online search is still much faster, easier, and cheaper
than driving 50 miles or more to a genealogy library to search
printed copies.
"The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, from April 1636
to October 1776" has long been recognized as a standard research
reference for early Connecticut families. Keep in mind, however,
that these are still transcribed copies of original handwriting.
As such, the records are subject to errors in the same manner as
any other secondary sources. Researchers interested in using
primary sources are advised to consult the originals in the State
Archives at the Connecticut State Library.
"Connecticut (Colony). The Public Records of the Colony of
Connecticut, from April 1636 to October 1776" is available now and
is free for everyone. To see for yourself, look at:
http://www.colonialct.uconn.edu "
--
John Chapman
"THESE are the times that try men's souls.." Thomas Paine 1776
Home Page
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~johnjay/