Posts from the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

New: Michael Metcalf(e) The Dornix Weaver and Some Dedham Descendants

Michael French Metcalf

In 1637, Michael Metcalfe, a Puritan weaver of dornix cloth, emigrated with his family from Norfolk, England, to escape the wrath of the Anglican authorities. The book begins with the Metcalfe clan still in England, and traces their involvement in the political and religious issues of medieval times. When Michael immigrated to Dedham, Massachusetts, a nascent community outside of Boston, he joined the Puritan community rooted there. Three generations later, some of his descendants dispersed to Connecticut, Vermont, and beyond. After the Revolutionary War, the family branch followed in this book moved to Vermont and then down the Connecticut River, where prospects for a better life were abundant; later, they went to upstate New York before moving to St. Paul, Minnesota, gateway to the American West. In the early twentieth century, the family returned to the Boston area, where Michael’s descendant, George Putnam Metcalf, joined with the Carter family, descendants of Thomas Carter, who was also a Puritan from England and had settled in Dedham at the same time as Michael Metcalfe. The story shows how these original families evolved into Yankee families, and how their relentless quest for better lives motivated the migration of their descendants.

Hardcover, $80, and paperback, $70. Available from all online booksellers.

The McDevitts of County Donegal, Ireland

Annie Kienzle Lee

The McDevitts of County Donegal, Ireland is a history of the author’s maternal McDevitt family line, with the focus on her grandparents who were born and raised in the Glens of Glenties, County Donegal, Ireland before emigrating to Philadelphia, PA in the 1920s. This comprehensive full-color book includes local history, census records, maps, documents, photos, information on Irish naming traditions, bibliography, and index.

Hardcover, $84.00. Available from all online booksellers

New: Nine Generations from Dr. Thomas Wynne

Mary Ellen Wynn

Nine Generations from Dr. Thomas Wynne documents and explores the author’s father’s family history and genealogy from its earliest American immigrant, Dr. Thomas Wynne, to its ninth generation. Dr. Wynne, a member of the Welsh gentry, was an early Quaker convert who was persecuted and jailed for his beliefs. He became acquainted with William Penn, also a convert, became his personal physician, and in 1681 purchased 5000 acres in Penn’s new province of Pennsylvania. In 1682, they sailed together on the ship Welcome to the new town of Philadelphia. Dr. Wynne’s only son, Jonathan, inherited Dr. Wynne’s properties and established Wynnestay, a stone mansion still occupied in West Philadelphia and considered to be the oldest house in Philadelphia. Jonathan’s son established himself in Chester County and had six sons, all of whom fought in the Revolutionary War. Each member of the nine generations in the family line is described in a genealogical sketch and each of the families is placed in its historical setting. Includes appendices, illustrations, images, charts, maps, bibliography, and index. Full color.

Hardcover, $90.00 Available from all online booksellers

New: Sinclair Stories Pioneers of Virginia, Arkansas Territory, and California

J. Lynne Sinclair

Sinclair Stories uses genealogical research as a springboard to uncover the lives and historical context of Charles Sinclair of Sinclair Bottom, Virginia (abt. 1717?-1766) and some of his descendants, in particular through the line of his son John Sinclair who was married to Rebecca Pruitt. A major focus is on two of John’s sons, Alexander and Fuller Prewitt (Pruitt)Sinclair, who were fur traders and “mountain men” in the early 19th century. Connections to associated Pruitt/Prewitt and Nidever families are explored. In addition to presenting genealogical evidence to support family groupings, selected individuals whose records are unusually revealing are highlighted Their stories go beyond a pedigree chart or family group sheet to illustrate the richness that sometimes results from exploring the genealogical and historical record of our ancestors.

The Exums of Madison County, Tennessee 272 Years and Nine Generations of Family History 1750-2022

Joe Hardeman Exum, Sr.

Joe began his collection of family genealogical material while he was in Junior High School with a single sheet of paper he kept in a cigar box that showed his immediate family. Over the years, different family members were added to his box.

           With his interest in his family growing with the years, Joe started clipping out obituaries, birth announcements, wedding announcements and any type of articles pertaining to relatives. Over the years, two shoeboxes were added to the collection.

           In 1987 Joe purchased an IBM Jr. computer and a Family Roots genealogical program The boxes went into the computer and the collection grew. By 2020 there were over 2,000 names in the collection.

           COVID-19 came along and with it a quarantine. Martha Jane had died recently, and Joe was home alone in the house the two of them built in 1969. His son suggested that he use the solitude and the information he already had to write a book about his ancestors.

           Joe accepted the challenge and started to work immediately writing his first book for publication – a book about two brothers who came to Madison County, Tennessee in the early 1830s and their Exum descendants who had lived in the county over the decades.

Who Came Before – The Story of Lydia DePiero and Renato Belli

Lynn Belli Fiori

This delightful and informative family history documents the Italian immigrant experience of the author’s grandparents and parents.

While maintaining close ties with their native Italy, they built a life together in New Jersey. Full of details of family traditions, photos, charts, maps.

The Maynard, North, and DeForest Families

A Story of Immigration, Industry, and Community, by Jenifer Kahn Bakkala

Told in the author’s narrative style, The Maynard, North, and DeForest Families follows the story of Charles North and Isaac Maynard, immigrants who arrived in America in 1836 and found success in the early industries of upstate New York. Making their homes in Oswego and Utica, the two men’s descendants came to occupy some of the most prominent seats in New York State’s booming textiles industry. When North and Maynard’s grandchildren married each other in 1907, they were at the apex of Utica’s economic and social stratum and grew to be leaders in their thriving community.

ISBN: 978-1-887043-92-2

$50 hardcover. Full color throughout, index. Available from

all online bookstores.

A Griffith History: How the House at Pound Ridge Was Built

Written by Jennifer Griffith Black, this genealogy of her family focuses on the family of Isaac Griffith and Eliza Curtis at the beginning of the 18th century in My Lady’s Manor, Baltimore County, Maryland, and their descendants, including the families of those marrying into the Griffith family. Includes photos, charts, maps, index.

ISBN: 978-1-887043-93-9

Hardcover, $36. Available from all online booksellers.

The Parentage and Siblings of Alfred Thompson Born in Connecticut in 1786

Tom A. Ebels Jr.

According to the census of 1850, 1860, and 1870 Alfred Thompson, Sr. was born in Connecticut, but no birth records could be located. Tom A. Ebels, Jr. examines and analyzes two main sources of information about Alfred Thompson, Sr.: The History of Johnson, County, Indiana, published in 1913 by Elba L. Branigin and the Pension Request files of Alfred and Robert Thompson, Jr. He compares, analyzes, and documents his findings.

ISBN: 978-1-887043-95-3

$36 hardcover. Available from all online booksellers.

The VanDerveer Family and The Line of Some VanDerveers of New York and New Jersey

Kristin Liddle

Thirty years in the making, this genealogy is best described as a reference work on the VanDerveer family. The author’s father could never trace his VanDerveer line back further than his great grandfather, and her challenge was to discover about the earlier lines. She began from the known to the unknown, but then turned her attention to the beginning and moved forward, and after several years of searching, was able to connect the family line. She is grateful to all of the authors who have gone before in tracing this family through articles in genealogical magazines, and to many emails and correspondence by genealogical groups. Most interesting, and enlightening, were local histories, national histories, cultural histories, and museums. Fortunately, discussions with Betty Campbell of Belle Mead, New Jersey, and Ursula Brecknell of the VanHarlingen Historical Society, provided the key to her father’s lineage and the connection to the first immigrant ancestor.

Includes bibliographic references, index. Full-color, photos, maps, charts, and graphs.

ISBN: 978-1-887043-53-3

$75.00 hardcover