[Cautions on] GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH IN ENGLAND - extracted from:

Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England 1620-1650

By CHARLES EDWARD BANKS  Pub. 1937

Extracted portions recorded by Doug Phelps, 2008    Comment by Doug Phelps: The highlighted words of the author below are offered as a starting point for our genealogical searches of the origins of our Phelps..  More recent research into the huge numbers of indentured servants coming into Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina (over half the immigrants in the colonial period) is a good second step.

INTRODUCTION

Colonel Charles E. Banks was universally conceded to be one of the ranking genealogists and writers on local history in America. This "Topographical Dictionary of English Emigrants to New England, 1620­

1650" is unquestionably his most important genealogical work. In the local history field he is best known for his "History of Martha's Vine­yard," 3 vols., and his "History of York, Maine," two volumes of which have appeared and a third is promised for subsequent publication….  Col. Ranks had more knowledge of the location of early records and the procedure necessary to approach them than many English genealogists, certainly more than any American. In his special­ized field, early English emigration to America, he had no equal at home or abroad. This Topographical Dictionary was the greatest effort of his life and is a monument for all time to his efforts in behalf of all seeking information regarding English emigration to America, 1620-1650.

Philadelphia, Penna.      Elijah Ellsworth Brownell. March, 1937.

GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH IN ENGLAND

The columns of this page have borne witness in recent years to the increasing interest of family genealogists desiring to learn something more definite than has been possible heretofore about the English origin of their immigrant ancestors. This desire is not only logical but inevit­able as there is no sound reason for stopping research on this side of the Atlantic and asking no further questions as to their earlier origins. This phase of American genealogical research involves, of course, a different kind of study and a knowledge of more difficult conditions than attaches to home research in familiar surroundings. Research in England for the family connections and residence of the American ancestor at the time of his emigration must be approached and undertaken in an entirely new spirit. There is too often an easy indulgence in assuming that family names borne by prominent or historic families in England are an assur­ance of connection with the immigrant's family. At the outset the inter­ested searcher should disabuse his mind of any preconceived notions as to such connections. Inquiries in this column indicate that this is a prevalent misconception, and well-meaning correspondents will answer such inquiries quoting from Burke's "Peerage" or "Landed Gentry" the occurrence of similar names as authority for linking up the humble immi­grant with one of the nobility. It would save much time, labor and ex­pense if every copy of Burke's "Peerage" and "Landed Gentry" were put on the censored list of librarians, out of the reach of amateur genealo­gists.

It cannot be too strongly stated that English emigrants to New Eng­land and Virginia in colonial days came from the cottages and not the manor houses. This is equally true of all the original colonies and the common chatter about "Cavaliers" peopling Virginia is entirely unjusti­fied and can be disproved by the facts. They were of the same class of English people as those of the New England colonies, although the latter were largely dominated by the so-called Puritan influences. Everyone beginning an English search for his ancestor should start fair and not endow in advance his ancestor with a fanciful descent from nobility as the drop when the facts are established is sure to be a deserving disillu­sionment. The few who were in any way related to the nobility and gentry are practically well known and have been well known since their coming, and to suppose that any scion of such families concealed at the time from his children his gentle birth and allowed them and their descendants to remain ignorant of the fact is too absurd to entertain. There would be no reason for concealing it. Not only that, but Lords of the Manor had no reason to emigrate as they were practically well sit­uated at home in the ownership of their lands, which they need not or would not abandon. Our ancestors came for the opposite reason-because they had been tenants for generations and were land hungry. Reliable investigations which have been made on the basis of such claims of noble birth have always led to proof of yeoman origin. This is not to assert that some of our emigrant ancestors were not of the younger branches of well-to-do families and it is a worthy object to establish this if possible, but the whole conception of the great transatlantic migration from the American viewpoint is not based on accident of birth but upon the quality of the great work they began in laying the foundations of a new nation in the spirit of equal opportunities and equal rights. By this it is not meant to represent them as the flotsam and jetsam of English life: they formed the backbone of English yoemanry at that period-the source of England's greatness. It would be also quite as well for the searcher to drop ideas of coats of arms in connection with the immigrant, for while it is a harmless and trivial amusement it is of no value and only confuses the object of the search. The number of families who are entitled to hear (even by good-natured courtesy) coats of arms is entirely negligible as compared to the great body of people who emigrated hither before 1700.

This present relation of personal experiences, worked out by practi­cal dealings with conditions in England, will not cover the special form of genealogical interest which some amateurs follow in respect to "Royal Descents." This is a kind of research into prehistoric lore, quite beyond the scope of ordinary students and the documentation of it puzzles even the most expert of English historians.

Practically the initial step in carrying one's emigrant ancestor back to the parish from which he came involves a number of intensive exami­nations of his career in New England from the day of his landing to his death. His name may be found in certain printed lists of emigrants to New England or the Southern Colonies published by Hotten many years ago, taken from certain few Custom House lists which have been pre­served out of the wreck of like documents and kept for years at local sea­ports of England, or in the dungeons of the Tower of London. Most of these relate to the year 1635. This book is available in all public libraries. If the name is not found therein the examination of his life and associates here must be undertaken to provide suggestions as to possible and prob­able connections which may have existed prior to emigration.    Most of the emigrants came in neighborhood groups, often led by the Nonconforming clergymen of one of the parishes of that area. It is, often possible to obtain an approximate idea of the emigrant's home if it is known with whom he emigrated or the pastor connected with that group.            In the same manner these groups of emigrants went to the same town in the colonies and their former neighbors would often secure adjoining house lots and continue their old associations in the new country.

As a rule these emigrants were people in early middle life, generally married with a few Young children-the kind of pioneers able to undergo the hardship, Of conquering a wilderness. Very few aged people under took the dangerous ocean voyage unless accompanying their married sons or daughters. It may be assumed as a general proposition that immi­grants arriving here 1630-40 (the period of the great migration) were born at the beginning of that century or shortly after. These groups con­tained persons closely related by marriage or of lesser degree of kinship, and often it is possible where the English location of one of the groups is known one or more of the others may also be found in the same locality. If none of these factors are present, particularly kinship by blood or marriage, the intimate associates of one's ancestor must be studied, par­ticularly financial connections-mutual witnesses in deeds, appraisers of estates and bondsmen-as it is usual for friends and relatives to assume these obligations for each other. Through this source such connections may furnish a clue as the starting point of an investigation. This pre­liminary spade-work is of the utmost importance and will save much loss of time, labor and expense if thoroughly done as it is a long task to look up Zachariah Worthington (for example) "supposed to be born in England." I have in mind the compiler of a printed genealogy who even _neglected to look up the grave-stone of the emigrant, which had cut on it the information that he was born in Leicestershire, England, a most vital fact which reduced to one county out of the forty in England the extent :, of the search.

Then there is the usual "family tradition" of the English origin of the ancestor. This may or may not be of any practical importance but the origin of it should be traced if possible and may become an important laid in the case. Frequently in case of definite statements of the parish :of origin a distorted spelling will confuse one unfamiliar with the pecu­liar pronunciation and spelling of English localities which exist even today. Examples are found in the printed notarial records of Lechford and Aspinwall. We have no such strange transformations as Kirton for Crediton or Cissiter for Cirencester, or Sawbridgeworth which is locally pronounced Sapsearth!  There is no way of unravelling these queer transformations of sound and spelling, but the searcher must be prepared to deal with such confusing local place-names. Then there are almost entire changes in the spelling of parish names, such as Agmondisham which is now written Amersham (see Pope, Pioneers of Massachusetts, page 248).