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1 comments about The Ricker Compilation of Vital Records of Early Connecticut: Based on the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records and Other Statistical Sources.

1. This CD contains a massive amount of information easily searched from the software on the disk. The over fourteen thousand pages contain enough facts and information to keep me busy for a long time to come. If you have roots in Connecticut prior to 1850 I would definitely recommend this CD.

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4 comments about And They Were Related, Too: A Study of Eleven Generations of One American Family!.

1. This book is completely differant from any geneological book you will ever read! It looks at people of color and native americans in a way you would not believe. It's long but is deffinately worth reading and the author is also very devoted to what she does (trust me, I live with her.) She will show you things that takes years to find and learn that you would never expect to read about. Enjoy it.



2. This is much more than a detailed and first-rate genealogical study--although it is that. In this extraordinary work of research into of eleven generations of an American family, the Condols of southeastern Connecticut, Vicki Welch has in effect given us a core sample of history, a rich transverse section of American life in all its complexity, tragedy, travails, and triumph.
   
   Welch has an astonishing grasp of the relevant sources and secondary literature, reflecting decades of genealogical research, chiefly focused on native Americans. While her book admirably follows the canons of her profession, the sheer scope of the extended family networks traced here leads Welch into almost every corner of American history, from descendants of Aaron Burr ("Yes, that Aaron Burr"--and perhaps Thomas Jefferson as well) to the Nehantic sachem Ninigret and the Chinese immigrant tea merchant Charlie Lee. At the same time, the depth of source material (much of it presented in full) fleshes out the lives of individuals with far more detail than in most genealogical studies. The extraordinary probate record of the family's patriarch, Cuff Condol, for example--which runs to fourteen printed pages, including a detailed inventory of such items as "one white fort cow $25 one read [red] D[it]to $25"--offers a rich window into the daily life, work, and social connections of a prosperous self-emancipated former slave in early nineteenth-century New England. Other key documents--wills, obituaries, newspaper articles, and a wealth of rare photographs--bring to life many of the more than 3,500 persons gathered here.
   
   An unprecedented boon to genealogists and family historians far beyond Connecticut--Cuff Condol's descendants spread out throughout the nation and beyond--And They Were Related, Too also contains a rich vein of information that historians will mine for years. There is raw material here for innumerable future studies, and tantalizing threads to thousands of other stories. But the casual reader will find it fascinating, too, and may very well find connections to his or her own family history.
   
   In particular, Welch's book illustrates the manifold ties in southern New England among Native Americans and Africans and Europeans of many backgrounds. It is hard to imagine that anyone could arrive at the end of this book still believing that there is such a thing as race; but the reality and centrality of ancestry shines forth as a gleaming flame. To read this book is to come to understand that family is the most important thing, and that it encompasses everything.



3. I purchased Vicki's book in order to have a source for our family's history. My father's cousin had shared with me my first clues into our ancestor's lives, and then I connected with Vicki Welch on a family message board..as she was researching what has turned out to be an exciting line of ancestors!
   But reading the book was more amazing than I had imagined, and I learned SO much more than just "who my ancestors were." I was given a glimpse into the history of the area where I was raised..Connecticut..and I was thrilled to know how diverse my ancestry was!
   And Vicki somehow brings it all to life..just as a small notation that was found about one of my ancestors noted that "he always carried a fiddle with him"...suddenly that "name" became a person. Vicki has done that with hundereds of "names" in the book..she has made me see them as living, breathing people..my people.
   For people of color..for those of Native American ancestry..for those brought up in Connecticut..for those who enjoy good writing in a historical context..I would highly recommend this book.



4. A Portrait of America
   
   ¬ Vicki S. Welch has produced a masterpiece with And They Were Related, Too: A Study of Eleven Generations of One American Family. The book came to my attention in a search for information about Antoine DeSant, an emigrant from the Cape Verde Islands who settled in New London, Connecticut, during the mid-nineteenth century. What I discovered in And They Were Related, Too was meticulous research and careful documentation of the family into which he married. His wife, Susan Congdon, was a granddaughter of Cuff Condol or Congdon, the patriarch whose descendants populate the more than 600 pages of this work. And what a family they were! They lived and worked as farmers and homemakers and blacksmiths and teachers and nurses and engineers. Some survived wars, epidemics, or natural disasters to live into their nineties. Others succumbed when they were just a few days old. They were of every ethnicity as the Native Americans of southeastern New England married Europeans and former slaves from Africa. The members of this large and diverse family can say along with Walt Whitman, "I contain multitudes." They truly are America.
   And They Were Related, Too is a book to read from cover to cover - or to dip into here and there for the view it gives of every era in American history from before the founding of the nation to the present. As a journalist I always look for good stories, and the stories behind the census, vital records, and newspaper articles Ms. Welch has collected in such detail are captivating. Some are tragic: a destitute veteran of the American Revolution who struggled financially for years and died before he received a pension; a woman murdered by her husband; a daughter of the DeSants who spent thirty years or more at a state hospital for people with mental illness. There are tales of spectacular achievement as well. Probably the most famous Condol/Congdon descendant was the Reverend Amos Gerry Beman, son of Cuff's daughter Fannie, who became pastor of the Colored Congregational Church in New Haven and was an ardent supporter of suffrage and other rights for people of color before and after the Civil War. Another descendant was the organist at the Second Congregational Church in New London for 35 years and performed for Mark Twain at a concert in New York. One of Cuff's great-grandsons married a woman who promoted education for black women and worked alongside Susan B. Anthony to advocate for women's rights.
   Most importantly some of Cuff's descendants left written records that allowed Vicki Welch to "connect the dots" and trace the family's long and complicated lineage. She makes good use of these works to support the otherwise sketchy records left by people who had to dedicate their lives to survival and had virtually no leisure to record their memories.
   Everyone should own a copy of this book. Even if you don't find your own family's history here, it is a model of how to approach the work.
   
   Liz Petry
   author of "Can Anything Beat White? A Black Family's Letters"
   published by the University Press of Mississippi
   available at www.lizpetry.com

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