The Age of Discretion
Some principles of genealogical analysis are universal and apply to all cultures, while other such principles are variable and tied to a particular time and place. Among the former are various inescapable logical and biological constraints. No one can be born before their parents were born. No one can become a parent at age two.
More Here »

Editor's Effusions
On a regular basis we devote large portions of the Great Migration Newsletter to the consideration of very narrow issues, such as the meaning of a single technical term or the importance of one particular type of record. There is also importance in moving to the opposite extreme and looking at our subject matter from the broadest perspective.
More Here »

Focus on Immigration
Two years ago we continued our examination of the question of when the Great Migration ended by studying the list of those admitted as freemen of Massachusetts Bay on 2 June 1641 [MBCR 1:378-79; GMN 17:19-22, 27-30]. This date was the opening day of the General Court of Elections. We use this date each year as the cutoff for determining that a given immigrant had arrived in New England no later than the previous year, on the assumption that very few passengers ships can have arrived in New England any earlier than this date, given the difficulty of crossing the North Atlantic during the winter.
More Here »

Recent Literature
John E. D'Anieri, "Notes on John¹ Lyford of Plymouth Colony and Virginia, His Child Ann, and His Widow's Second Husband," The American Genealogist 83 (2009):174-78. The author analyzes the will of JOHN LYFORD {1624, Plymouth} [GMB 2:1214-17], proposes a possible identity for the second husband of the widow, identifies an additional child (a daughter Ann), and adds further information on some of Lyford's other children.
More Here »

I. The Age of Discretion
II. Editor's Effusions
III. Focus on Immigration
  • Methodology
  • List of Freemen, 18 and 19 May 1642
IV. Recent Literature