Our Rhode Island genealogists research on location. They will find and analyze the best records available to further your family history research. They can search the archives and libraries in Rhode Island, including:
- Rhode Island State Archives (RISA)
Historic records from 1638 to the present - Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHH)
Births (1636-1898), marriages (1636-1900), deaths (1636-1920), 422,000 inscriptions from 3,046 RI cemeteries (1647-1900), city directories, passenger lists (1620-1941), state censuses, military records (1600s to present), almost every Rhode Island newspaper ever published, periodicals, church records, tax records, phone books, probate records since 1600s, genealogies - Newport Historical Society (NHS)
Merchants’ records (1700s-1900s), church records for 14 congregations, log books for dozens of ships, family papers for hundreds of Newporters, extensive African-American history collection, town and city records, diaries, journals - Brown University Archives and Library
Corporate records, president’s and faculty papers, alumni papers, student records, Brown athletics, 60,000 phototgraphs, broadsides, posters - Naval War College, Naval Historical Collection
Contains College archives, manuscripts, and oral histories relating to the history of naval warfare and the history of the Navy in Narragansett Bay - University of Rhode Island Libraries
Holds over 1.1 million books and 8,000 periodicals. Includes government documents, manuscripts, archives, maps, nautical charts, and microforms amounting to nearly 2.3 million additional items. - American-French Genealogical Society
Devoted to people of French-Canadian extraction. Publishes Franco-American vital statistics, parish registers, burial records, and other data
Our professional researchers can do research projects of many sizes and for many budgets. We customize the amount of research provided according to your needs.
If you want to know more about how our genealogists can further your research, you can request a research quote.
Some of the major records sources that can be used for genealogy research in Rhode Island include:
- Birth, marriage, and death records were kept by some towns as early as 1639
- Birth, marriage, and death records have been recorded by the state government from 1841 to the present
- Federal census records were recorded every 10 years starting in 1790
- State, territorial, and colonial censuses were recorded in 1855 and 1865
- Land records were kept by the towns and counties from the time they were settled
- Probate records were kept by the local courts from 1692 to the present
- Churches sometimes kept records of the christenings, marriages, deaths, or other information about their members
- Newspapers were written in many areas and time periods that contain information such as notices of marriages, notices of death, and obituaries
- Town and county histories about the settlers and their families
- Naturalization and citizenship records were recorded by the courts since 1790
- Ship passenger lists, tax lists, and town records were recorded for many areas
