Census records and name lists for New York are found mostly at the county level, which is why this work shows precisely which census records or census substitutes exist for each of New York's sixty-two counties and where they can be found. In addition to the numerous statewide official censuses taken by New York, this work contains references to census substitutes and name lists for time periods in which the state did not take an official census. It also shows the location of copies of federal census records and provides county boundary maps and numerous state census facsimiles and extraction forms.
In 1636, Roger Williams, recently banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of his religious beliefs, established a settlement at the head of Narragansett Bay that he named “Providence.” This small colony soon became a sanctuary for those seeking to escape religious persecution. Within a few years, a royal land patent and charter resulted in the formation of the “Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” which incorporated Williams’ original settlement and espoused his tenets of freedom of religion and separation of church and state. During the ensuing decades, thousands of Baptists, Quakers, Jews, and Huguenots relocated to Rhode Island from other New England colonies, the British Islands, and Europe in search of religious freedom. One such individual, John Thomas, an immigrant from Wales, made significant contributions to early settlements at Jamestown on Conanicut Island and at Wickford on the nearby mainland of Rhode Island. He was the first town constable of Jamestown in 1679, and later owned hundreds of acres of land in the towns of North and South Kingstown. This fully indexed work traces and sketches the lives of his descendants, many of whom were at the forefront of the great American westward migration, and represents the most comprehensive compilation of them to date. It is the result of twenty years of extensive research and includes detailed information from military pension archives, will and estate records, agricultural data, county histories, and migration patterns that far exceeds the standard for genealogical works of this scope and magnitude. It is important for us to remember those who helped shape our nation. This work provides valuable information for those who are interested in this family and its evolution in America.
Samuel A. Bayer was born in Germany in the early 1700s. He married Maria. Their children included Anna, Blasius, Johann Philip, Johannes, Hans, Anna, Johann Heinrich, Andreas, Anna Maria (who died young), Anna Maria, and Maria Barbara. Their descendant, Samuel Boyer was born in Philadelphia in 1751. He married Maria Catherine Kuser. Their children included John, Hannah, Elizabeth, Jacob, Maria, Henry, Eva and Rachel.
Thomas Hewitt (ca. 1625-ca. 1662) was a sea captain, born in either Ireland or England. He married Hannah Palmer (b. 1634) in Stonington, Connecticut on 26 April 1659. His ship was lost at sea in 1662 and never heard from again. Hannah remarried to Roger Sterry (d. ca. 1680), and also John Fish. Descendants of Thomas Hewitt and Hannah lived in Connecticutt, Vermont, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois, Iowa, Washington, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, and elsewhere.
