The Stephen Chase Diary, 1784-1818

Stephen Chase was a farmer and land surveyor in Chester, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. His leather-bound diary, covering the period from 1784 through 1818, is among the jewels of the manuscript collection at the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Every day, Chase wrote a single line about something significant that occurred that day. Many of those events are births, deaths, and marriages not recorded anywhere else! 

If you have ancestors who lived in or around Chester during this time period, this diary is a must-see! Although access to the original diary is restricted because of its fragile condition, it has been microfilmed, and may be viewed at NEHGS in Boston or at the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord.

Happy hunting!

William Ran[d] death (1787), as recorded in the Stephen Chase Diary, 1784-1818, unpaginated (original diary at New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston; microfilm at New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord).

A State Treasure: The New Hampshire Historical Society

Join us for this lecture at the New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC) in Manchester, New Hampshire, 17-20 April 2013. The lecture is sponsored by the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists and will be presented by Certified Genealogist, Diane Florence Gravel.

The Tuck Library at the New Hampshire Historical Society has an enormous collection of published and original sources to help you knock down those 1790 brick walls. Learn how to take full advantage of this state treasure!

New England Regional Genealogical Consortium (NERGC) Conference

The New England Regional Genealogical Consortium (NERGC) Conference will be held in Manchester at the Radisson Hotel, 700 Elm Street in Manchester from Wednesday, April 17 to Sunday, April 20, 2013. The conference presents a vast array of events and learning experiences that are invaluable to New England researchers. For more information about the NERGC conference please visit the NERGC website at http://www.nergc.org.

Diaries and Journals

Nothing can take the place of a first-hand account in genealogical research. Diaries and journals are wonderful glimpses into the everyday lives of our ancestors, and can provide a wealth of genealogical information as well. The New Hampshire Historical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) are two repositories that contain a wealth of diaries and journals. Titles that are helpful to the Strafford County researcher include The Journals of Enoch Hayes Place, The Diary of Master Joseph Tate of Somersworth, N.H., and The Journal of James Tuttle of Barrington, all at the New Hampshire Historical Society. The Diary of Master Joseph Tate is also fully contained in the New England Historical and Genealogical Record (NEHGR), published in four parts: Part 1: Volume 73, Pages 304-15; Part 2: Volume 74, Pages 34 - 50; Part 3: Volume 74, Pages 124-30, and Part 4: Volume 74, Pages 179-99. The New England Historical and Genealogical Record is available online to NEHGS members on the NEHGS website at http://www.americanancestors.org. NEHGS has compiled a list of the diaries in their special collections, Guide to diaries in the R. Stanton Avery special collections / compiled by the NEHGS special collections staff.

NH Provincial Deeds online

The New Hampshire Provincial Deeds are online. Here is how to access images of the deeds. Start by going to New Hampshire County Registries of Deeds http://www.nhdeeds.com/

Select Rockingham County

In the menu on left – go to Search County Records

            Read How to Search Records and How to use the Website

            Then go to Search County Records in the menu

                        Read the disclaimer

                        Click Accept Disclaimer Agreement

Now – be patient – it takes somewhat less than a minute for the Search Box to come up, but it feels like ages! If it doesn’t come up after a good minute then you have to read the information about verifying JAVA, etc. Once you’ve updated JAVA and cleared the old JAVA out of your computer you should get the Search Box and be all set. FYI computer #4 at the Nashua Family History Center is set up for this search.

To begin your search this is important: You must first select the index you want. In the Select Index section the Day in Progress Grantor is the default index. That won’t get you to Provincial Deeds. Click the down arrow there and select either Verified Grantor 01/01/1629-... or Verified Grantee 01/01/1629-.... Today I’ll start with Verified Grantor 01/01/1629-11/14/2012. Type the surname first then the first name. Remember to try different spellings (ex: Swain, Swaine, Swayne). I started with SWAIN WILLIAM, clicked ‘Click Here to Begin Index Search’ and was rewarded with a nice list of men named William Swain & their deeds.

Choose the one you want to see and highlight the line by clicking on it. Then at the bottom click View Document – and it comes right up! You can zoom in and out; go to prior & next documents; etc. Look around and play with the page. I haven’t yet seen a way to print the deed, but it seems to me that I remember reading that you need to have an account & pay. If you are very clever you may be able to figure out how to use the Print Screen key, save to your Paint program (or something else) and print from there. I haven’t done that in a very long time, so won’t attempt it now.

When you are ready to try another name, at the bottom of the indexed list, click New Index Selection.

Have fun.

Jackie

Welcome to New Hampshire Research

New Hampshire research can be very challenging. Vital records may be missing or incomplete for a town or for a certain time period. Probate records may be sparse, especially if an ancestor died intestate, not leaving a will. When approaching New Hampshire research we recommend exploring all available sources, "leaving no stone unturned." New Hampshire research can be very time-consuming, but the results are well worth it.