Wish list: The Great Migration collections

I would love to get the complete Great Migration collections from The New England Historic Genealogical Society.

New England's "Great Migration" refers to the influx of English-- most of them Puritans-- who came over and settled in New England from 1620 to the 1640's.

There are two sets: the first is The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 by Robert Charles Anderson. It's three volumes, hardcover, and goes for $99. Volume I covers immigrants with names from A-F, Volume II covers G-O, and Volume III covers P-W (evidently there were no immigrants from this period with surnames beginning with X, Y, or Z).

The second collection, by the same author, is The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, and contains seven books (the last one is coming out in September 2011-- next month as of this entry's publish date).

This latter collection is far less affordable, unfortunately-- many people could swing a hundred bucks for the first set, but it's harder for the average person to come up with-- or justify-- $375, which is what the seven-volume 1634-1635 set goes for.

And this is a special deal via NEHGS; the list price is actually $425 (each book, purchased individually, runs about $50-$60 dollars via online sellers).

For serious genealogists specializing in early New England who can afford it, I'd say it's worth getting.

I can't afford it right now, but thankfully, ancestry.com has a database containing the contents of the 1620-1633 volumes. I'll feature some "Great Migrant" ancestors and post the info about them here.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society

I just discovered a fantastic, absolutely essential website/resource for anyone who has New England ancestors: the NEHGS. Founded in 1845, this is the oldest genealogical society in the U.S.

There are no requirements to join, other than paying an annual fee of $80. There are increasingly expensive membership options also-- going all the way up to a one-time payment of $6000 for a lifetime membership with assorted perks such as long consultations with professional genealogists.

Not being overburdened by worldly wealth, I'm sticking with the cheapest plan. It's well worth the money to have access to all of their databases; they have records from Massachusetts from 1841 to 1915, which enabled me to find birth and marriage records for my paternal grandmother, as well as her parents and grandparents. I also found birth and marriage records for my maternal grandfather and his parents.

You also get a subscription to two periodicals, as well as access to the records at the NEHGS headquarters in Boston.

If you have New England roots (or New York roots, as they also have records from there), I would strongly encourage you to join and take advantage of the wonderful information they have in their many databases.