Genealogy

The Museum of Old Newbury’s archival collections contain a variety of resources for researching family genealogy. The collection is particularly strong in genealogies of Newbury’s “first settlers,” who arrived in the mid-17th century. The Mary Adams Rolfe Collection, outlined below, includes volumes on many of these families.

Other resources in our collection include published genealogy books, manuscript genealogies by a variety of researchers, 19th and 20th century city directories, correspondence and diaries.

Mary Adams Rolfe Collection

The Mary Adams Rolfe collection consists of dozens of volumes pertaining to the founding families of Newbury. The collection’s namesake worked tirelessly throughout her life to document each family using official data found in resources like town, church and probate records.

The depth of information available varies by surname, with some volumes comprising less than 20 pages and some more than 200. Though each volume is different, you can expect to find information such as: vital records (birth, marriage, death dates), transcriptions of wills and deeds, court records, occupation information, military and civil service records and estate inventories.

The Museum of Old Newbury is pleased to offer the Mary Adams Rolfe collection for purchase via digital download (PDF). Each volume is priced according to size, and pricing ranges from $15-$50. Browse below to learn more about a particular volume and to make a purchase.

The following families have a genealogy for sale below:

Adams, Atkinson, Bartlett, Badger, Bond, Brown, Cheney, Coffin(Tristram), Coker, Coleman, Cutting, Dole, Dummer, Emery, Gerrish, Gooding/Goodwin, Gowen, Greenleaf, Huse, Ilsley, Jackman, Jaques, Kelley, Kent, Knap/Knapp, Knight, Little, Littlehale, Long, Lowell, Lunt, March, Merrill, Moody, Morse, Noyes (James), Pearson, Pierce, Pike, Plummer, Poor, Richardson, Rogers, Rolfe, Savory, Sawyer, Sewall, Short, Smith, Somerby, Stevens, Swett, Thurlow, Thurston, Titcomb, Toppan, Webster, Wheeler, Woodbridge, Woodman (Archelaus), Woodman (Edward).

Not finding your family name? Check out these additional files.

Featured
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"Dump Files"
Dump A-B
"Dump Files"
$5.00

This volume contains the miscellaneous information in what Mrs. Rolfe referred to as “DUMP A - B.” This file is 259 pages long.

Some entries contain several pages of data for a surname, while others may contain only one or two lines. For this reason, this file is only $5.

The following family names are found within “Dump A - B”:

Abbott / Abbot

Acres / Akers

Adams

Akerman

Alden

Alexander

Allen

Anderson

Andrews

Angier

Annis

Anthony

Arakelian

Armitage

Armstrong

Arnold

Ash

Aslet

Atkins

Atkinson

Atwater

Atwood

Aubin

Ayers

Bachiler

Bachelder / Batchelder

Bagley

Bailey / Bayley

Baines

Baker

Balch

Ballard

Ballou

Bamford

Barbour /Barber

Barker

Barney

Barsham

Bartlet / Bartlett

Basford

Bass

Basett

Bastar

Batt

Baveridge

Baxter

Beal

Beamsley

Bean

Beck

Belcher

Bennett

Berry

Bickford

Bingley / Bingle

Bishop

Bitfield

Blanchard

Bland

Blaisdell / Blaizdel

Blumfield / Bloomfield

Blumpey

Boardman

Bolt

Bond

Bowden

Bowlen

Bowles / Bolles

Boynton

Brabrook

Bradbury

Brading

Bradish

Bradley

Bradstreet

Bragdon

Bray

Brett

Brair / Breyer / Bryer / Byer

Brierly

Bridges

"Dump Files"
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"Dump Files"
Dump C-D
"Dump Files"
$5.00

This volume contains the miscellaneous information in what Mrs. Rolfe referred to as “DUMP C-D”

Some entries contain several pages of data for a surname, while others may contain only one or two lines. For this reason, this file is only $5. The file is 232 pages long.

The following family names are found within “Dump C-D”:

Caldwell Calef Call Calley / Cawley / Colley / Cowley Canney Canterbury / Cantlebury Carey / Cary Carlton / Carleton Carpenter Carr Carrick Carter Caverly / Coverly Chase Cheney Chicken Cheever Chewte / Chute Choate Clark Clarkson Cleaveland Clement Clifford Clough Clouston Coates Coddington Coffin Colby Collins Comerford Condre / Condry Conner Cook / Cooke Coolidge Coombs Cooper Corbet Cottell / Cottle Cooch / Couch Couilliard Creasey / Creacey Crocker Cromloue / Cromwell Cross Crowninshield / Kronenshelt Crumbie Currier Curtis Cushing Cutter Daggett / Doggett Dalton Dana Danforth / Danford Daniel / Daniels Darling Datua Davenport Davis Dawsett Decker DeFord Delile / Delisle Denney Desmazer Dexter Dimmick Dodge Doe Dorman Doucet Dow Downer Drake Dudley Dunning Dunyon Dutton

"Dump Files"
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"Dump Files"
Dump E-H
"Dump Files"
$5.00

This volume contains the miscellaneous information in what Mrs. Rolfe referred to as “DUMP E-H”.

Some entries contain several pages of data for a surname, while others may contain only one or two lines. For this reason, this file is only $5. This file is 317 pages long.

The following family names are found within “Dump E-H”:

Easton

Eaton

Edenden

Edwards

Ellerson

Elliott

Ellis

Ellison

Ellwell

Ely

Emery

Emerson

England

Eustis

Fairbanck

Fales

Farnum

Favor

Felch

Felton

Fferman

Fenimore

Field

Fiske

Fitch

Fitts / Fitz

Flanders

Fletcher

Floyd / Flood

Fogg

Follensby / Follansbee

Folsom

Ford

Foss

Foster

Fowle

Fox

Francis

Frees/ Freez

French

Friend

Frost

Frothingham

Fry / Frey / Frye

Furlong

Gage

Gale

Gallishan / Galashan

Gallashan

Gayran / Garan

Gardner

George

Gibbons

Gibson

Giddings

Gilbert

Giles

Gilman

Godfrey

Goffe

Goldthwaite

Goodale

Goodhue

Goodwin

Gooerrich

Gordon

Gould

Grant

Greele / Greeley

Greenleaf

Greenough / Greenhaugh

Griffin

Griffin

Gunnison

Gutterig / Gutteridge

Hale

Hardy

Harris

Harrod

Harton

Harvey

Haskell

Haskins

Hawkins

Hains / Haynes

Hawthorne / Hathorne

Hayward

Henderson

Herbert

Hersey

Hett

Hidden

Hillard

Hillard

Hills

Hobson

Hodge

Hoyt

Holland

Holman

Holt

Hooke

Horton

Howard

Howells

Howland

Hubbard

Hudson

Hughes

Hull

Hunnewell

Hunt

Hurd

Huse

Hutchins

Hutchinson

"Dump Files"
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"Dump Files"
Dump I-P
"Dump Files"
$5.00

This volume contains the miscellaneous information in what Mrs. Rolfe referred to as “DUMP I-P”.

Some entries contain several pages of data for a surname, while others may contain only one or two lines. For this reason, this file is only $5. This file is 324 pages long.

The following family names are found within “Dump I-P”:

Ilsley Ingalls Ingerfield Ingersoll Jackson Janvrin Jaques Jenkins

JepsonJewett Jillings Johnson Jones

Jordan Kendall Kenny / Kenne Kent

Kettell Keyes Kilborn / Kilburn Kimball King Kingsbury

Knap / Knapp Knight

Kuhn Laird Lakeman Lambert Landford Lane Larkin

Lascomb Lattime Laughton Law Leaver Lebreton Le Craw Lee Leighton Libby Littlefield Long Longfellow Loring Low

Lucas Lull Lumbert Lunt Lydston Lynch Mace MacIntosh

Mackhard / McHard

Macy Mager Maley Marden Marquand Marsh Marshall

Marvyn Matchet Matthews Mayhew Merlane Maverick Merrick /

Myrick / Mirick

Merrill Middleton Mighill Miller Millet Mills Miltimore Milton Milward /

Millerd Mitchell Mix Moody Moore (s)

Mooers Mores Moers

Morrill Morrison Morse / Morss Moulton Mullins Musselwhite/

Musilloway

Ossilloway / Silloway

Muzzy / Muzzey / Mussey

Nash Nason Neal Neff Nelson Newhall Newman Nichols Norton Nowell Noyes Nye Ober O'Brien Oliver Orne Osgood Page Palmer Parker Parsons Partridge Patch Patten Peabody Pearson Pease

Peasley / Peaslee

Pell Pemberton Perkins Perrye / Perry Pettingell Phillips Pickett

Pigeon / Pidgin Pike

Pillsbury Piper Plumer Porter Post Preble Prescott Presbury Presson Prince Pritchard /

Prtichet Proctor Putnam

"Dump Files"
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"Dump Files"
Dump R-S
"Dump Files"
$5.00

This volume contains the miscellaneous information in what Mrs. Rolfe referred to as “DUMP R-S”.

Some entries contain several pages of data for a surname, while others may contain only one or two lines. For this reason, this file is only $5. This file is 186 pages long.

The following family names are found within “Dump R-S”:

Rackley

Racklyeft

Rand

Randall

Rapall

Rawlings

Rawson

Reade

Reading

Reyner

Richards

Richardson

Ricks / Rix

Riggs

Ring

Robbins

Roberts

Robinson

Roaf / Rolfe

Roper

Ross

Row / Rowe

Rowell

Russ

Russell

Rushton

Rutherford

Safford

Sanborn

Sargent

Savage

Scott

Searl

Seddon

Sewall

Shackford

Shaw

Sherburne

Short / Shorte

Shute

Silloway

Silsbee

Silver

Simpson

Sindale / Sindall

Singletary

Skelton

Smith

Snow

Somerby

Southwick

Spalding

Spencer

Spofford

Sprague

Spring

Stacey

Stanwood

Starr

Stavers

Stearns

Stedman / Steadman

Sterling

Stickney

Stiles

Stocker

Stone

Stover

Stratton

Sumner

Swan / Swain

Swasey / Swazey

Sweetser

Sylvester

Symmes

"Dump Files"
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"Dump Files"
Dump T-Y
"Dump Files"
$5.00

This volume contains the miscellaneous information in what Mrs. Rolfe referred to as “DUMP T-Y”.

Some entries contain several pages of data for a surname, while others may contain only one or two lines. For this reason, this file is only $5. This file is 221 pages long.

The following family names are found within “Dump T-Y”:

Tannett

Tarr

Tarring

Taylor

Tead

Terrell/ Terrill /

Tirril/ Turrill

Thatcher

Thing

Thomas

Thompson

Thurlow

Thurston

Tilton

Tillottson

Titcomb

Todd

Toppan / Tappan

Torrey

Towne

Travers

Trotter

True

Truman

Trumble

Trusdell

Tuck

Tuck

Tucker

Turloar

Turner

Tuxbury /

Tewxbery /

Tyng

Underwood

Upham

Van Horn

Varina

Varrell /

Varrill

Vickery

Vincent /

Vinson

Wade

Walker

Wallace /

Wallis

Wallingfornd

Wardwell /

Wardell

Warner

Warren

Waters

Weare / Weir

Wier

Webb

Webster

Weed

Weeden

Welch

Wells

Weymouth

Wharf /Wharfe

Whatlock

Wheeler

Wheelwright

Whipple

White

Whiten / Whitten

Whitfield

Whitmore /

Whittemore

Whittier

Wigglesworth

Willard

Willet

Wiley /Willey

Williams

Wills

Wilson

Winbourne /Wenborn

Wenbane / Wimbourne

Window

Wingate

Winn

Wise

Witt

Woart

Wood

Woodberre / Woodbery /

Woodbury

Woodhead

Woods

Woodward

Woodwell

Woolery

Woolsworth

Worcester

Worldly

Worth

Wright

Wyatt / Wyat /

Wiate

Wyer / Weyer

Young

"Dump Files"

About Mary Adams Rolfe

Rolfe at work in the Newburyport Public Library, 1943.

Rolfe at work in the Newburyport Public Library, 1943.

Mary Adams Rolfe was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, March 27, 1874, daughter of Moses H. and Abbie (Hale) Rolfe.  Rolfe’s ancestors were among the first settlers of Newbury, and she devoted her life to studying and documenting her forebearers and their contemporaries.  Her prolific research notes include information about dozens of local families spanning three centuries. 

Rolfe’s interest in genealogical research began when her uncle’s injury in a Harvard football game gave him time to investigate his family background. At the age of thirteen, Rolfe did his active research, which began a lifetime of patient digging in an orderly manner.

According to James Barriskill, librarian of the Museum of Old Newbury at the time of Rolfe's death, she used only official data from sources like town records, church records, and wills, sometimes traveling considerable distances to get those of New England families who advanced with the westward frontiers. She was assisted in her work by her cousin, Marcia Emery Little, who copied the wills.

Rolfe was a highly respected genealogist known for the accuracy and depth of her research. Additionally, she served as the historian of the Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury for many years. A work on the first settlers of Newbury was interrupted by her death in 1958, after which her niece Rachael Rolfe Feighny gave the Museum of Old Newbury some 100 volumes of her aunt’s genealogical research. This collection totals over 20,000 handwritten and typed papers.

In 2003, Audrey Ladd, past president and board member of the Museum of Old Newbury, and Nancy Thurlow, administrative assistant, began the task of transcribing these notes in order save wear and tear on the original papers and to make them more accessible to researchers. The project took several years to complete, and the finished product has made Rolfe’s research an indispensable resource for genealogical researchers around the world.