Genealogy Roadshow Recap: Boston & Providence

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These last two episodes of Genealogy Roadshow brought us to two New England cities, Boston MA and Providence, RI.  Both episodes offered a lot of discussion on the history of New England, helping to put the lives of the guests’ ancestors into context.  Here are just a few of the subjects and resources I took away from the episode:


There were also some New York related topics mentioned!


During the first segment in Boston, Josh revealed that his guest has many famous and influential cousins; even Josh himself was related to the guest – they are actually 13th cousins once removed! When thinking about my distant relatives, sometimes I find it difficult to understand who the common ancestor is.  I find it helpful to look at the chart of consanguinity to try to conceptualize how we’re actually related - see "Consanguinity” by John Reynolds Totten, NYG&B Record, vol. 63, no. 2 (1932) for a great chart.


Good luck with your research!


Heather Hoffman                                                                                                                                     (Manager, Digital Collections and Online Services at the NYG&B)