The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1847

This is the second issue of the New England Historical & Genealogical Register, the earliest American journal devoted to genealogy and regional history, published in April 1847. What makes this quarterlies remarkable is not narrative drama but historical urgency: it preserves letters, biographical sketches, and genealogical records that would otherwise be lost to time. The volume opens with an extensive memoir of Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, whose name is inseparable from the Salem witch trials. Unlike his fellow judges, Sewall later expressed profound remorse for his role in the convictions, making this memoir a rare document of colonial conscience. The journal continues with family lineages, church records, and discussions of early New England settlers, painting a granular picture of the religious, political, and social dynamics that shaped the region. For historians and genealogists, this Register remains a foundational resource, a direct window into how 19th-century Americans understood their colonial ancestors. It is not a book to read cover to cover but a reference work that rewards curiosity about the making of New England.