Essex Society of Genealogists

Essex Society of Genealogists Discover your family history with the Essex Society of Genealogists!

Since 1975, ESOG has supported genealogists through educational programs, research help and resources, our quarterly journal, The Essex Genealogist, and a welcoming community. ESOG is located in Essex County, Massachusetts, one of the most historic counties in the nation.

📣 TODAY — 1 PM EASTERN!Join us for ESOG’s September program:🔎 Was Your Ancestor Accused of Being a Witch?Exploring the C...
09/19/2026

📣 TODAY — 1 PM EASTERN!

Join us for ESOG’s September program:
🔎 Was Your Ancestor Accused of Being a Witch?
Exploring the Colonial New England Witchcraft Trials
Presented by Karen Fortin

Why did the New England witchcraft trials happen? What did our ancestors believe? And what can understanding their world tell us about the people whose lives appear in the records we research today?

🔎 WHAT INFORMATION HAVE YOU FOUND IN A NATURALIZATION RECORD THAT HELPED SOLVE A FAMILY-HISTORY QUESTION?Take a close lo...
09/18/2026

🔎 WHAT INFORMATION HAVE YOU FOUND IN A NATURALIZATION RECORD THAT HELPED SOLVE A FAMILY-HISTORY QUESTION?

Take a close look at this 1895 naturalization record for Onesime P. King, filed in the Police Court of Lawrence. How many genealogically useful details can you find?

This one record provides information about his residence, birthplace and birth date, age, country of origin, date and place of arrival in the United States, former allegiance, witnesses—and even his signature.

But there's another important lesson hiding in this record.

King reported that he arrived in Boston on 15 May 1873—when he was only six months old.

Could he personally remember that?

Probably not. The information may have been supplied to him by his parents or another source. We don't know. That's why even information given by the person himself should be treated as evidence to evaluate, not automatically as fact. Passenger lists, vital records, censuses and other sources may corroborate—or contradict—what appears in a naturalization record.

And don't stop after finding one naturalization document. Depending on the time period, there may be a Declaration of Intention, Petition for Naturalization, Certificate of Naturalization, or other related records, sometimes created years apart.

Naturalization records may be found through FamilySearch, the National Archives (NARA), state archives, local courts and subscription genealogy websites. If a collection is available only through a subscription site, check your local library—many libraries provide access to genealogy databases for their patrons.

Now look at the record again: what information would YOU want to verify with another source?

Photo: Onesime P. King naturalization petition, 1895, Lawrence Police Court, Essex County, Massachusetts; National Archives at Boston, RG 85; digital image, Ancestry.com.

⚖️ ACCUSED. ACCUSER. WITNESS. NEIGHBOR. FAMILY MEMBER.If your ancestors lived in Essex County or elsewhere in colonial N...
09/17/2026

⚖️ ACCUSED. ACCUSER. WITNESS. NEIGHBOR. FAMILY MEMBER.

If your ancestors lived in Essex County or elsewhere in colonial New England, the witchcraft trials may have touched their communities in ways that extended far beyond those who were formally accused.

THIS SATURDAY, join ESOG via Zoom as Karen Fortin presents:

🔎 Was Your Ancestor Accused of Being a Witch?
Exploring the Colonial New England Witchcraft Trials

📅 Saturday, September 19
🕐 Meeting 12:45 PM
🎤 Presentation: 1 PM Eastern

Image: Witchcraft at Salem Village, 1876, from William A. Crafts, Pioneers in the Settlement of America. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

⚖️ HOW MUCH OF THIS 1692 COURT RECORD CAN YOU READ?Court records can preserve far more than the outcome of a legal proce...
09/16/2026

⚖️ HOW MUCH OF THIS 1692 COURT RECORD CAN YOU READ?
Court records can preserve far more than the outcome of a legal proceeding. They may contain testimony, relationships, residences, disputes, witnesses—and sometimes the actual words of people who lived centuries ago.

Few Essex County records demonstrate that better than those surviving from the Salem witch trials of 1692.

This image is the 2 June 1692 testimony of Ann Putnam Sr. concerning John Willard, William Hobbs, and Martha Corey. The original document survives in the Massachusetts State Archives.

When examining a court record, don't look only at the principal person in the case. Who else appears? Witnesses, neighbors, relatives and associates may provide the clue you're looking for.

The University of Virginia's Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive provides digital images and transcriptions of the Salem Witchcraft Papers, including this document. The Massachusetts Archives has also digitized the original Salem witch-trial records, although its online image viewer was not displaying this document when we checked.

And if you'd like to learn more about these remarkable records and the events that created them, join us this Saturday when Karen A. Fortin presents:

“Was Your Ancestor Accused of Being a Witch? Exploring the Colonial New England Witchcraft Trials”

Saturday, September 19 | 1 PM Eastern | Online via Zoom

🔎 Have you ever discovered an ancestor—or one of their relatives, neighbors or associates—in a historic court record?

Photo: “Testimony of Ann Putnam Sr. v. John Willard, William Hobbs, and Martha Corey,” 2 June 1692, Salem Witchcraft Papers, SWP No. 137.18; digital image, Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, University of Virginia. Original: Essex County Court Archives, Salem—Witchcraft, vol. 1, no. 240, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Judicial Archives, Massachusetts State Archives, Boston.

The latest issue of The Essex Genealogist is here!Volume 46, No. 1 of The Essex Genealogist, ESOG’s journal devoted to E...
09/16/2026

The latest issue of The Essex Genealogist is here!
Volume 46, No. 1 of The Essex Genealogist, ESOG’s journal devoted to Essex County, Massachusetts genealogy and family history, is now available to members.

This issue includes research on the English origins of Henry Lee of Manchester, the family of Thomas Gould of Salem, two similarly named Armenian immigrants connected with Lynn and Lawrence, a Spotlight on Lynn, and Vice President J. D. Vance’s Essex County ancestry.

Not an ESOG member yet?
Membership gives you access to the latest issue of The Essex Genealogist plus our collection of past issues—decades of Essex County family histories, genealogical research, local history, case studies, and discoveries that may hold clues to your own ancestors.

And perhaps your research belongs in a future issue! The Essex Genealogist welcomes submissions related to Essex County, including family histories, genealogical discoveries, brick-wall research, record transcriptions, methodology, local history, and more.

Scan the QR code to join ESOG and start exploring The Essex Genealogist.

📚 NEED GENEALOGY HELP? COME SEE US TOMORROW!Working on a family-history question? Hit a brick wall? Not sure where to lo...
09/15/2026

📚 NEED GENEALOGY HELP? COME SEE US TOMORROW!

Working on a family-history question? Hit a brick wall? Not sure where to look next?

Members of the Essex Society of Genealogists are available for free genealogy help every Wednesday from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Lynnfield Public Library.

Bring your genealogy questions, research problems, or records you're trying to understand and see if we can help you find your next step.

📅 Wednesday
🕙 10 AM–2 PM
📍 Lynnfield Public Library

Even experienced genealogists sometimes benefit from another researcher looking at a problem with fresh eyes.

🔎 What genealogy question has you stumped right now?

Photo: “Family register,” Currier & Ives, ca. 1852; Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-pga-08664. No known restrictions on publication.

🔎 NO WILL? DON'T GIVE UP ON THE PROBATE FILE.Have you ever found an unexpected piece of genealogical evidence in a proba...
09/14/2026

🔎 NO WILL? DON'T GIVE UP ON THE PROBATE FILE.
Have you ever found an unexpected piece of genealogical evidence in a probate file? What was it?

A probate file can contain much more than a will—and an ancestor who died without a will may still have left a valuable probate trail.

Depending on the estate and time period, you might find:
• Petitions and administration papers
• Inventories of property
• Bonds
• Guardianship records
• Accounts and distributions
• Receipts
• Names of heirs or other interested parties

And don't forget the newspapers. Probate notices and citations were published as part of some estate proceedings, providing another place to look for your ancestor and the settlement of the estate.

For Essex County, many early probate records are available FREE online. Probate file papers survive online through 1881, while some docket and record books extend into the early 1900s.

But what if your ancestor died later?

Ask the court.

More recent probate files may not be online. A member recently requested two Essex County probate files—from 1949 and 1978—and received scanned images of the probate packets directly from the court. In these two cases, the scans were provided at no charge.

Photo: Probate of Onesime P. King, 1949, Essex County, Massachusetts; image courtesy of Essex Probate and Family Court.

🔎HAVE YOU SEARCHED THE 1855 AND 1865 MASSACHUSETTS CENSUSES? Did one of them reveal something you couldn't find in the f...
09/13/2026

🔎HAVE YOU SEARCHED THE 1855 AND 1865 MASSACHUSETTS CENSUSES? Did one of them reveal something you couldn't find in the federal censuses?

Massachusetts conducted state censuses in 1855 and 1865, and the original population schedules survive.
That means you may be able to follow an Essex County family at five-year intervals:
1850 — U.S. Census
1855 — Massachusetts Census
1860 — U.S. Census
1865 — Massachusetts Census
1870 — U.S. Census

Those extra snapshots can help you track children entering or leaving a household, migration, changes in occupation, marriages and deaths—and sometimes help distinguish between people with the same name.

And some enumerators even included the town, not just the state where the person was born!

Even better: both censuses can be searched and viewed FREE at FamilySearch, including images of the original records.

Image: 1855 Massachusetts State Census, Gloucester, Essex County; image courtesy of Massachusetts State Archives, accessed via FamilySearch.

⏳ ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!Have you ever wondered whether your ancestor—or perhaps their neighbors, relatives, or associates—...
09/12/2026

⏳ ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!

Have you ever wondered whether your ancestor—or perhaps their neighbors, relatives, or associates—became involved in the New England witchcraft trials?

Join ESOG next Saturday as Karen Fortin presents:
🔎 Was Your Ancestor Accused of Being a Witch? Exploring the Colonial New England Witchcraft Trials

We’ll look beyond the legends to explore what happened, what people living in colonial New England believed, and why these events may have occurred.

📅 Saturday, September 19
🕐 1 PM Eastern
Put it on your calendar—we hope you’ll join us!

Speaker photo courtesy of Karen Fortin; used with permission.

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Lynnfield, MA
01940

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