This is a follow-up to my last message with a direct quote from FTM CD 215, which I hope goes through. I just want to clarify the whole business of Rhode Island Vital Records if I can, for anybody who doesn't know what's what, and that has included all of us at some stage in our genealogical development. Over a century ago, James N. Arnold published a series of books called VITAL RECORD OF RHODE ISLAND, 21 volumes. The first six consist of births, marriages, and deaths copied from the records of the various towns, up to 1850. Later volumes contain church records, some military, and newspaper abstracts of deaths and marriages. When you see a reference in a book to RI VR or VRRI, it is almost always Arnold that's meant. About 25 years ago Alden Beaman, who lived in Princeton, Mass., began publishing two separate things: one a series of books called NEW VITAL RECORDS OF RHODE ISLAND. The other was a quarterly journal RHODE ISLAND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, containing various things, perhaps most importantly abstracts of wills from all the towns. Dr. Beaman is dead, and his daughter Nellie continued his work for a few years but to the best of my knowledge now the family effort, Rhode Island Families Association or something like that, is no longer in operation. They were LDS, so the Library in Salt Lake City might have more information. The NEW VR didn't get to Providence Co., but there are volumes on Kent Co., Washington Co., and some from Newport. It's important to understand the differences between Arnold's VR and Beaman's VR. Arnold's are taken directly from the town records, but anything in the town records is not there, obviously. Beaman did something else. Recognizing that many births and marriages were never recorded. he used probate records and cemetery records to find evidence of births and marriages. Thus if "daughter Sally" is named in the will of John Brown of Scituate, he assumed the birth of a daughter Sally to John Brown. Same thing with marriages. If daughter Sally was daughter Sally Salisbury in John Brown's will, you have the marriage of Sally Brown to a Mr. Salisbury. This is great for clues, but you have to check. Just because someone died in a certain town leaving a will there, it doesn't mean his children were born there -- and the fact that he's buried there doesn't mean he was born there. There's a lot of room for error, but as I said, it's absolutely great for clues. Any serious RI collection should have both Arnold and Beaman. The fact that both involve numerous volumes now largely out of print has made this impractical, but the CDs solve the problem - provided people understand what they are, and the labeling doesn't make it easy. I hope this helps somebody! Jane

Hi Jane, Have both on CD and use them all the time. Another must have Rhode Island book would be Austin's Genealogical Dictionary of Rhode Island. I was fortunate enough to purchase one in the 1980's when they were available from the Genealogical Publishing company. When you live 1500 miles from Rhode Island this definitely helps in research. If you identify an ancestor you should still order a copy of the record from the town records. The folks at Tiverton sent me copies at a very reasonable cost. Tom Corey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jane Fiske" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 3:05 PM Subject: [RIGENWEB] follow up > This is a follow-up to my last message with a direct quote from FTM CD > 215, which I hope goes through. I just want to clarify the whole business > of Rhode Island Vital Records if I can, for anybody who doesn't know > what's what, and that has included all of us at some stage in our > genealogical development. > > Over a century ago, James N. Arnold published a series of books called > VITAL RECORD OF RHODE ISLAND, 21 volumes. The first six consist of births, > marriages, and deaths copied from the records of the various towns, up to > 1850. Later volumes contain church records, some military, and newspaper > abstracts of deaths and marriages. When you see a reference in a book to > RI VR or VRRI, it is almost always Arnold that's meant. > > About 25 years ago Alden Beaman, who lived in Princeton, Mass., began > publishing two separate things: one a series of books called NEW VITAL > RECORDS OF RHODE ISLAND. The other was a quarterly journal RHODE ISLAND > GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, containing various things, perhaps most importantly > abstracts of wills from all the towns. Dr. Beaman is dead, and his > daughter Nellie continued his work for a few years but to the best of my > knowledge now the family effort, Rhode Island Families Association or > something like that, is no longer in operation. They were LDS, so the > Library in Salt Lake City might have more information. > > The NEW VR didn't get to Providence Co., but there are volumes on Kent > Co., Washington Co., and some from Newport. > > It's important to understand the differences between Arnold's VR and > Beaman's VR. Arnold's are taken directly from the town records, but > anything in the town records is not there, obviously. Beaman did > something else. Recognizing that many births and marriages were never > recorded. he used probate records and cemetery records to find evidence of > births and marriages. Thus if "daughter Sally" is named in the will of > John Brown of Scituate, he assumed the birth of a daughter Sally to John > Brown. Same thing with marriages. If daughter Sally was daughter Sally > Salisbury in John Brown's will, you have the marriage of Sally Brown to a > Mr. Salisbury. > > This is great for clues, but you have to check. Just because someone died > in a certain town leaving a will there, it doesn't mean his children were > born there -- and the fact that he's buried there doesn't mean he was born > there. There's a lot of room for error, but as I said, it's absolutely > great for clues. > > Any serious RI collection should have both Arnold and Beaman. The fact > that both involve numerous volumes now largely out of print has made this > impractical, but the CDs solve the problem - provided people understand > what they are, and the labeling doesn't make it easy. > > I hope this helps somebody! > Jane > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Thank you, Jane, for your wonderful explanation! I wish I had been fortunate enough to have read a post like yours years ago when I was first starting out in my genealogical research in Rhode Island. It would have saved me SO much time and effort. As it turned out, I eventually figured out what a great resource Beaman's was. But it took me a while. I just wanted to thank you publicly, because it is such a great benefit to our already-wonderful list to have such an experienced (and respected) genealogist in our midst so willing to share her expertise with the rest of us. Your generosity is greatly appreciated! Judy Anthony Houston, Texas -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jane Fiske Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2007 3:05 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [RIGENWEB] follow up This is a follow-up to my last message with a direct quote from FTM CD 215, which I hope goes through. I just want to clarify the whole business of Rhode Island Vital Records if I can, for anybody who doesn't know what's what, and that has included all of us at some stage in our genealogical development. Over a century ago, James N. Arnold published a series of books called VITAL RECORD OF RHODE ISLAND, 21 volumes. The first six consist of births, marriages, and deaths copied from the records of the various towns, up to 1850. Later volumes contain church records, some military, and newspaper abstracts of deaths and marriages. When you see a reference in a book to RI VR or VRRI, it is almost always Arnold that's meant. About 25 years ago Alden Beaman, who lived in Princeton, Mass., began publishing two separate things: one a series of books called NEW VITAL RECORDS OF RHODE ISLAND. The other was a quarterly journal RHODE ISLAND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, containing various things, perhaps most importantly abstracts of wills from all the towns. Dr. Beaman is dead, and his daughter Nellie continued his work for a few years but to the best of my knowledge now the family effort, Rhode Island Families Association or something like that, is no longer in operation. They were LDS, so the Library in Salt Lake City might have more information. The NEW VR didn't get to Providence Co., but there are volumes on Kent Co., Washington Co., and some from Newport. It's important to understand the differences between Arnold's VR and Beaman's VR. Arnold's are taken directly from the town records, but anything in the town records is not there, obviously. Beaman did something else. Recognizing that many births and marriages were never recorded. he used probate records and cemetery records to find evidence of births and marriages. Thus if "daughter Sally" is named in the will of John Brown of Scituate, he assumed the birth of a daughter Sally to John Brown. Same thing with marriages. If daughter Sally was daughter Sally Salisbury in John Brown's will, you have the marriage of Sally Brown to a Mr. Salisbury. This is great for clues, but you have to check. Just because someone died in a certain town leaving a will there, it doesn't mean his children were born there -- and the fact that he's buried there doesn't mean he was born there. There's a lot of room for error, but as I said, it's absolutely great for clues. Any serious RI collection should have both Arnold and Beaman. The fact that both involve numerous volumes now largely out of print has made this impractical, but the CDs solve the problem - provided people understand what they are, and the labeling doesn't make it easy. I hope this helps somebody! Jane ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message