Lechford's Note-Book, Lawyer in Boston, MA June 27, 1638-July 29, 1641
- Author: Lewis Bunker Rohrbach, intro by
- SKU: 1106
- ISBN: 0929539060
- Our Price:
$55.95
-
Description:
(BOSTON). NOTE-BOOK KEPT BY THOMAS LECHFORD, ESQ., Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638 to July 29, 1641. 512 pp. 5,000 entry Every Name Index; Intro by Lewis Bunker Rohrbach, CG. Hard cover. 1988 (1885).
"Essential for anyone interested in early New England." - The American Genealogist.
"'Indispensable' is not too strong a word to evaluate this text, notwithstanding the comparatively short period that it covers." - The Genealogist.
"A fascinating book, which you will enjoy reading." -- The Detroit Society for Genealogical Research Magazine.
"An early New England resource of considerable importance." -- The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.
Thomas Lechford (c1590-1644?) was Boston's first lawyer. The Note-Book contains a multitude of wills, contracts, deeds, estate settlements, letters, legal petitions, and the like, drawn by, for, and about the inhabitants of Boston at that time.Thus it is an invaluable source for Bay Colony records early in the Pilgrim Century.
Written between 1638 and 1641 by Boston's first lawyer, Lechford's Note-Book was published in 1885 by the American Antiquarian Society in a well edited but very small edition, and has never before been reprinted. Thomas Lechford (c1590-1644?) created a book which is an invaluable source for Bay Colony records early in the Pilgrim Century but, because of the rarity of the 1885 edition, his work has never been used as extensively nor by as many genealogists as it deserves. The 1885 edition, the only one ever done, is so scarce that many serious researchers have never seen a copy. Henry F. Waters made good use of Lechford while researching his "Genealogical Gleanings" but complained at some length about the 1885 index -a defect which has been remedied in this reprint by the addition of a new, Every-Name index.
Lechford's Note-Book contains a multitude of wills, contracts, deeds, estate settlements, letters, legal petitions and the like; drawn by, for and about the inhabitants of Boston at the time. In some cases the Note-Book confirms conclusions reached earlier by Savage while in others it adds data unknown to Savage. All the while the Note-Book provides you with a multitude of new links with family origins and connections in England, links which will prove equally important to genealogists, historians and sociologists. An added bonus is the scattering of Virginia merchants indentified in various contracts and shipping disputes, many of whom are not otherwise easy to identify.
This invaluable research tool has been reprinted by Picton Press with an added Introduction on Thomas Lechford's English ancestry and with a new Every-Name index of some 5,000 entries, both by Lewis Bunker Rohrbach, C.G. The original, annotated, index has also been retained. Serious researchers will not want to be without this extremely valuable tool for research in both old England and New.
