Books published by Heritage Books

The author has amassed a bounty of information about Wrights in southern Virginia. The sources for the records listed in this volume are the Campbell County, Virginia, Birth Records available from the Library of Virginia in Richmond; the Campbell County, Virginia, Marriage Records available from the Clerk of the Circuit Court in Rustburg, Virginia; Marriages of Campbell County, Virginia 1782-1810 by Lucy Baber and Hazel Williamson (1971); and Campbell County, Virginia, Marriage Bonds 1781-1854 by the Genealogical Society of Utah (1937). Information in the birth records includes date, name of child, color, sex, live or still birth, place of birth, father's name, occupation, and residence, mother's name, number of births, name of informant, and informant's relationship to child. Information in the marriage records includes book page, date, names, bride's parents, surety, witnesses, and name of marrying pastor. Records from 1857 also include place, husband's and wife's age, single or widowed, places of birth and residence, husband's and wife's parents, and husband's occupation. After 1873 the couple's race was also noted. Each section has its own index. A most helpful feature for each entry is the identification column, in which the author identifies the specific family and Wright ancestors from whom the named Wright descends.

Bridgewater, Massachusetts, is included in the Massachusetts Town Vital Records project Early Vital Records of Massachusetts to 1850, begun November 1901. Birth, marriage, and death records were compiled and published, with the Massachusetts Legislature passing a law in 1902 agreeing to purchase 500 copies of each vital records volume, and distribute them to public libraries and historical societies. These volumes became very important for vitals research, as sources of information are also given. But, for those searching for ancestors, the words "to 1850" says it all. Researchers have to contact town hall for vital records after 1850, with some towns requiring an actual visit by the researcher. One source of vital records away from town hall is found in the town's Annual Report. Using this series requires a trip to the library and a year-by-year search for ancestors. This book combines many years into one easily searched volume. There are almost 20 years of births, and around 40 years of marriages and deaths, ending with 1898. The alphabetical listing of names reveals family groupings and multiple generations extending from the 18th century. The liberal usage of ladies' maiden names is a significant aid to researchers.

Historians and armchair adventurers will enjoy this collection of true stories of privateering incidents and heroes, taken mostly from the eighteenth century. Privateers, originally known as "private men-of-war", have frequently been confused with pirates, but unlike pirates, privateers were licensed plunderers. Privateers were valuable auxiliaries to the Navy, although, in the absence of legitimate prey, privateers would sometimes adopt the tactics the pirates. "The privateersman, scouring the seas in his swift, rakish craft, plundering the merchant vessels of the enemy, and occasionally engaging in a desperate encounter with an opponent of his own class, or even with a well-equipped man-of-war, has always presented a romantic and fascinating personality." Discussions include: two early incidents, privateering in the South Seas with chapters devoted to William Damper, Woodes Rogers, George Shelvocke and John Clipperton; the Great Englishmen-Fortunatus Wright and George Walker; Frenchmen-Jean Bart, Du Guay Trouin, Jacques Cassard and Robert Surcouf; American Captains-Silas Talbot, Joshua Barney, Barney and Haraden, Thomas Boyle, and "General Armstrong;" and numerous "Odd Yarns" about such notable characters as Captain Death of the Terrible, and much, much more...Eight charming illustrations and a fullname plus subject index enhance the text.

Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto blazed the trails of the Arkansas area in 1541, followed by French explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette. In 1682, French explorer La Salle claimed this wilderness in the name of France, naming it Louisiana. There were many Native American tribes living in this region: The Osage, Caddo, Akansa and the Quapaw. France then ceded this region to Spain in 1762. Spain permitted Americans to settle in the Arkansas area in 1783. In 1801 Spain returned the Louisiana area to France. The U.S. acquired this territory with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, requiring residents to file claims with the government in order to prove legal ownership of the land. Between 1820 and 1906, more than 15,000 entries were filed for the eastern Arkansas counties of Hempstead, Howard, Nevada and Little River. Land was sometimes available for only $1.25 per acre, or a parcel could be bid upon. This index of land transactions filed with the General Land Office (GLO) is an excellent resource for the genealogist, containing abstracts of land transactions over an eighty-seven-year span beginning in 1820 after statehood. Records are arranged alphabetically by purchaser's last name, and include: first name, middle initial, a legal description and location of the land, the amount of land in acres, the date of purchase, and the county. Contact information is provided in the preface for obtaining access to the original records. This volume covers the following counties: Hempstead, Howard, Nevada and Little River.

The legal records abstracted in this volume of entries from the Superior Court of Law and Equity Mero District of Tennessee cover all of early middle Tennessee from the years 1803 to 1805 and pre-date any surviving census of the region which makes them all the more valuable to genealogists and historians. By providing details, which are grounded in fact and official records, they contribute depth and substance to our understanding of daily life in early America. Debts and divorces, domestic and business disputes as well as more heinous misdeeds like forgery, robbery and murder are described briefly and the results of these proceedings are given in straight-forward paragraphs which supply names, and when given, the occupations of those parties involved. Hundreds of surnames, indexed for easy reference, are available in this book, and many of the people named may not be found in other existing documents. Mentioned frequently among the records is Andrew Jackson in the role of judge, witness, plaintiff and defendant. Some of the legal outcomes are unpredictable and perhaps foreshadow the future with their surprising resolutions. These early legal abstracts offer a unique perspective on the first settlers of America who, while struggling to survive in a rough and uncertain landscape, looked to old traditions of law and order to help define their new society. Perhaps this is why so many of them, memorialized in lists in this book, traveled over 200 miles to fulfill their obligation of jury duty. Now you can share the details of legal matters that they were willing to journey so far to hear.

This delightful volume is the perfect companion to Henry Steiner's The Place Names of Historic Sleepy Hollow & Tarrytown. From the legend of Sleepy Hollow to the capture of John André (Benedict Arnold's co-conspirator); and from the first Dutch settlement to the American Revolution, these charming villages have been the scene of historical drama, both real and fictional. Attractive illustrations of mansions and monuments complement the narrative which includes the life and customs of early settlers; prosperous businessman Vredryk Flypse's "castle;" the story of the Old Dutch Church and an account of all of its ministers; "Sunnyside," the home of Washington Irving; legends of the area; old sites and highways; Tarrytown in war times; and a contemporary description of Tarrytown. This volume also includes a thrilling account of the capture of the traitor John André and a map of the two villages. An index to names, places and subjects completes this work.

The French & Indian War ended in victory for the English, and the French were forced to cede all of their forts, settlements and land-holdings east of the Mississippi River, save for New Orleans. This change of hands was followed by a flood of new English settlers eager to take advantage of fresh farm land and hunting grounds. The Indian tribes inhabiting these lands found themselves displaced by the new settlers, who, unlike the French before them, were unwilling to share the land. Pontiac, sachem of the Ottawa, resolved to resist the incursion and in doing so united all the Indian nations who had been in the French interest against the English. Known as Pontiac's Conspiracy, this bloody Indian uprising overran and captured nine frontier forts in fifteen days and nearly usurped English control in the Ohio Valley. This collection of Colonial newspaper abstracts allows the reader to experience the drama and uncertainty of Pontiac's Conspiracy just as it was experienced by the Colonials who lived through it. These articles offer eye-witness accounts of soldiers and civilians massacred, houses and fortifications burned and English settlers fleeing east with only the clothes on their backs. Readers may ponder the enormous amount of preparation needed, and the myriad hazards encountered by troops dispatched on military expeditions into the frontier. The events described here occurred nearly a century before the practical application of the telegraph, and belated newspaper articles such as these were the only means by which the public could be kept informed of the depredations and disasters taking place all along the Ohio. It is easy to imagine the eagerness of Easterners awaiting their weekly papers and the latest news from the West, after skimming even a few pages of this text. This is the sixth volume of abstracts compiled by Armand F. Lucier describing Indian affairs in Colonial America. Like the previous five volumes, it includes a full-name index.