Genealogy at the Sharon Historical Society

While the volunteers and staff of the Historical Society support and encourage the work of genealogists from across the United States and beyond, our on-site genealogical collections are very basic.If you are just beginning your research, we will be delighted to help you pull together initial information, including the general history of Sharon, early settlers, original Home Lots, etc. However, we are not equipped to deal with more in-depth inquiries.

Appointments for Genealogical Research are STRONGLY encouraged! Volunteers with a variety of interests often staff the museum and may be unable to help you with your research questions.

Please contact the museum IN ADVANCE of your visit to help you get the most out of your research travel plans. View Planning Your Research Visit for further information or call us at: (860) 364-5688

Fees - The SHS staff will be happy to answer basic research questions from materials in the SHS collection. Fees will be charged for photocopies. Fees for extensive research inquires should be discussed with museum staff prior to engaging in the research.

Headstones in Sharon, CT:

• View the Sharon Headstones Page

Contemporary Books/Research:

SELDOM TOLD TALES OF SHARON, BOOK 2
BY ED KIRBY
Continuing where Seldom Told Tales of Sharon leaves off, Book 2 invites the reader to delve deeper into the interconnected web that links people from various walks of life, generations and geographic locations to the town of Sharon. Once again, Ed Kirby tells the stories of the diverse people of Sharon whose lives still touch us today. "Tales 2" chronicles the lives of three strong women, Emily Winthrop Miles, Maria Bissell Hotchkiss and Lizzie St. John Eckel. The social and structural history of the town's iconic clock tower, the true-life story of the Colgate Mansion and the history of Catholicism in Sharon are also included in the volume. Hard cover, illustrated, 304 pages. 2008.

SELDOM TOLD TALES OF SHARON, BOOK 1
BY ED KIRBY
Seldom Told Tales of Sharon offers a glimpse into the bricks and mortar of history, the stories of individual people whose everyday decisions had lasting effects on the Sharon of today. Tales included in Book 1 of the series are Calkinstown's Inscrutable Hiram Weed, The Ill-Fated New York to Sharon Canal, and Sharon's Northeast Corner. Hard cover, illustrated, 137 pages. 2006.

A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON, CT
BY CHARLES F. SEDGWICK
Originally published in 1842, and reprinted with minor additions and corrections in 1877 and 1898, this book remains the chief source of information about the early days of Sharon, the period from 1732 to 1838, at which date Sedgwick first presented his material. The second and third editions endeavored to update Sedgwick's work and corrected some obvious errors that had crept in. Changes were made particularly in Chapter XIII. This fourth edition, edited by Jeanne Majdalany, is based primarily on the third edition. Typographical and grammatical mistakes and the very few errors that Sedgwick himself made have been amended. Illustrations have been more suitably placed in relation to the text and new ones have been added. The book contains a new appendix that lists the names of Sharon residents listed in the 1790 census, and an index of family names.

Off-Site Genealogical Resources:

1. AfriGeneas - African Ancestored Genealogy - "AfriGeneas provides leadership, promotion and advocacy for the mutual development and use of a system of genealogy resources for researching African related ancestry."
2. American-French Genealogical Society - The American-French Genealogical Society, is a genealogical and historical organization dedicated to the study and preservation of the French-Canadian culture.
3. American Immigrant Wall of Honor, The - The wall celebrates American immigration from its earliest beginnings until today, and soon even more names will be added.
4. Ancestral Findings - Birth, Census, Death, Land, Marriage, Military, Passenger, Immigration Lists and State Records Indexes and a chat room.
5. Ancestry.com - search 240 million names in 1630 databases
6. Ancestry Search - An Interactive Directory of over 400 Genealogy Surname Search Engines.
7. Ancestry's Social Security Death Index
8. Behind the Name - the etymology and history of first names
9. CLIO - The National Archives Information Service
10. Cemetery Junction - This site is about helping the genealogy community find information about their ancestors. Thousands of cemeteries listed.
11. Cemetery Records on the Internet - The site is a resource of burial records and links to cemetery webpages. Browse over 2.8 million cemetery records across over 54,00 cemeteries worldwide online, all searchable. Special collections included veterans cemeteries and cemeteries flooded by dams.
12. Censuslinks - Resources to help with your genealogy research with a database of 7102 links and 2955 categories.
13. Commonwealth War Graves Commission - includes personal and service information for 1.7 million soldiers who died in the First and Second World Wars.
14. Cyndi's Lists of Genealogy Sites on the Internet - "More than 264,550 links! 254,900 links, categorized & cross-referenced, in over 180 categories. Another 9,600+ uncategorized new links in the works."
15. Ellis Island Passenger Lists - Between 1892 and 1924 over 22 million passengers and members of ships' crews came through Ellis Island and the Port of New York. Now you can research passenger records from ships that brought the immigrants - even see the original manifests with passengers' names.
16. Family Census
17. Family Tree Maker Online
18. Find a Grave - graves of noteworthy people
19. Firstmom's Genealogy Resources and Records - Has actual records as well as thousands of categorized links to other resources on the web and off.
20. Frequently Occurring Names in America
21. Genealogy Today
22. Genealogical Database Index - Contains links to genealogical databases
23. Genealogical Reasearch in the Former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy
24. Genealogy.com
25. Genealogy Databases
26. Genealogy Help Network, The
27. Genealogy Gateway
28. Genealogy Home Page - Genealogical research tools and an annotated directory of links. 
29. Genealogist's Index to the WWW
30. Genealogy - Courtesy of Yahoo
31. Genealogy Learning Center - Tracing your family's history is a fascinating journey. This site will guide you along the way by offering how-to articles, genealogy classes and other resources that will help you dig deeper into your family's past.
32. Genealogy Organizations - Courtesy of Yahoo
33. GenealogyLibrary.com
34. Genealogical Resources on the Internet
35. Genealogy Register, The
36. GeneaNet
37. GenSite
38. GenSource - Free resources for genealogy research.
39. GenWeb Home Page - Creates genealogy database
40. Genwriters -This site is designed to help genealogists begin writing their family histories.
41. Helm's Genealogy Toolbox
42. Investigate Your Last Name - Site provides links to some of the largest sets of surname data available for searching. You'll need to enter at least a surname to get results. Find out how common your name is in different parts of the United States and do historical research on your family name.
43. Irish Family History Foundation - Genealogy Ireland
44. JewishGen - "The primary internet source connecting researchers of Jewish genealogy worldwide."
45. Kindred Konnections - "Family History Research Center" - search 100 million names
46. Lineages - "Genealogy reference library and resource center built and maintained by professional genealogists who understand the needs of beginning researchers and experienced family historians."
47. Linkages Project, The - Directory of links for kinship studies and genealogy material used in a university anthropology course
48. LookupUK.com - "The Resource Centre for finding that Lost Friend or Relative in the UK."
49. London Ancestor - Genealogy & Local History in Greater London. A Journal of source data for Genealogy & Local History in Greater London.
50. Mayflower Passenger List
51. Mormon Church Genealogy Site
52. MyFamily.com - "MyFamily.com is the easiest way to stay in touch with your family and friends using the Internet."
53. National Genealogical Society Home Page
54. National Obituary Archive - This site offers a repository of obituaries and death records with more than 56 million individual entries on file.
55. ObitPage - "The focus of obitpage.com is the lure of the obituary both as history and as literary art form. This site is the result of a life-long habit of reading the obituary page, collecting obituaries and sharing the most unusual with a cadre of friends writers, lawyers, actors, educators, historians, among others."
56. Obituarieshelp.org - Access newspaper obituaries and discover your genealogy online. Discover obituary resources like old newspaper obituaries archives and Download free genealogy forms and printable family tree charts.
57. Obituary Daily Times - Search for over 4 million obituary death dates (full-text obits not included) from nearly 2,000 publications around the United States. Entries typically include name, age, city of residence, source of obit, and death date.
58. Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records - This website gathers together links to online death indexes by state and county. Included are death indexes, obituary indexes, probate indexes and cemetery & burial listings.
59. Political Graveyard, The - "The Web Site That Tells Where the Dead Politicians are Buried"
60. Popular Baby Names - The Social Security Admin. publishes popular baby names as new data become available. In the top 1000 names per decade list, names are limited to births in the U.S.A. Unless stated otherwise, all other lists are from all Social Security applications, whether the birth occurred in the U.S. or elsewhere. Children born to U.S. military personnel, diplomats, tourists, and citizens working overseas are included as long as a Social Security number application is made.
61. RAND Genealogy Club - This site supports the Roots Location List, Roots Surname List and a Soundex converter, as well as many links organized either by type or by regional, ethnic or religious groupings.
62. ROOTS-L Home Page - Information on genealogical resources found at U.S. archives and libraries, including the Library of Congress. Includes Revolutionary War and other military records, as well as state by state genealogical resources.
63. Relationship Terms - Sometimes, especially when working on your family history, it's handy to know how to describe your family relationships more exactly. This site helps you understand lesser known relationship terms such as 'second cousin' and 'first cousin, once removed.'
64. Researching Your Roots - Researching your roots can be a lifelong project. With so many records and resources, it's not easy to find a starting point. While every family history follows a different path, there are general guidelines that every beginner should know. The site summaries these guidelines.
65. Rootsweb - The website of the genealogical data co-operative offers several different services to the genealogical community, including web-page hosting, search indexes and registries. This site tries to offer links to actual information, not just links to links.the British royal family, American presidents, and other notables. Includes a database and information on doing genealogical research on the Internet.  
66. Social Security Online - official Web site of the Social Security Administration
67. Soc. Security Death Index
68. State by state Vital Records Links - This site has links to every State and instructions on ordering vital record info such as birth, marriage, divorce and death records.
69. Surname Guide - Your research guide to surnames and lists of family genealogy homepages on the Internet.
70. SurnameSearch.com - Genealogy Surname Research in The United States And Worldwide.
71. SurnameWeb - The Genealogy Web Portal - The largest surname site on the web, search from over 1 BILLION persons! Now featuring 70,000 links to over 32,000 surnames; and over 2,200 one-name studies.
72. Twenty Ways to Avoid Genealogical Grief
73. UK Genealogy News - monthly online newsletter covering all aspects of UK genealogy.
74. UK + Ireland Genealogy - Comprehensive site covering genealogy and family history in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Includes an introduction to genealogy, information on getting started, hints for working from outside the U.K., a calendar of events, and continually growing databases organized by country, county, parish, and district.
75. USGenWeb Archives - US Genealogy, census, marriage, wills
76. U.S. Surname Distribution - Take a look at this surnames database to find out whether your last name (if it's among the 50,000 most common) is more prevalent in Minnesota or Florida. Helpful for someone trying to determine a starting point for a genealogy project.
77. Vital Records - This site contains information about where to obtain vital records such as birth, death & marriage certificates and divorce decrees from each state, territory and county of the United States.
78. What's in Your Name?
79. Where to Write for Vital Records - The links on this National Center for Health Statistics site provide you with direct access to individual State and territory information. To use this valuable tool, you must first determine the State or area where the birth, death, marriage, or divorce occurred, then click on that State or area.
80. Who's Alive and Who's Dead - the site that helps you keep track of which famous people have died and which are still alive!
81. WorldGenWeb Project, The - "The goal of the WorldGenWeb Project is to have every country in the world represented by an online website and hosted by researchers who either live in their own country or who are familiar with their country's resources."
82. YourFamily.com - genealogy and family member resources