
Don’t Overlook Colonial Gazeteers in your Research
When researching the history of an area or doing a cluster study it is worth the time to scan historic gazeteers for tidbits of information. Colonial gazeteers are a wealth of useful information that you may not expect. For example, James Rogers, a settler of Londonderry, New Hampshire “disappeared” from the New Hampshire records seemingly without a trace in the late 1700s. Because of the time period, I suspected he may have fled to Canada because he was a Tory. However, I needed proof. Searching the database for the keywords “Londonderry” and “Rogers” found the proof I needed and provided additional pathways for research.
Rogers received a New York land patent from King George for his service in the French War in 1770. He left New Hampshire and settled in that state, naming his new town Kent. Rogers returned to New Hampshire and sold some of this land to his Londonderry friends who then moved to New York to settle their new land with him. Eventually that land, once a part of New York, became part of Vermont. Rogers, a Tory and cousin to King George, ultimately fled to Canada in 1778 and his lands in Vermont were confiscated and re-chartered to his Londonderry, New Hampshire friends who were loyal to the patriot cause. Kent was renamed Londonderry and later part was carved out and called Windham around the same time as that split happened in New Hampshire.