Welcome to Old Saybrook Genealogy, part of the CTGenWeb Project!

                                                          

Town of Old Saybrook Website

Wikipedia article on Old Saybrook

This guide lists sources of genealogical information available to researchers in Old Saybrook, Connecticut as part of the CTGenWEb and USGenWeb projects. Materials specific to Old Saybrook have been emphasized, most of which are not likely to be found elsewhere in county, state, or national repositories.   First established in 1635, Saybrook Colony encompassed all or parts of the modern day communities of Lyme, Old Lyme, Chester, Deep River, Essex, Westbrook, and Old Saybrook. The town of Old Saybrook as we know it today was incorporated in 1854.



Frank
Stevenson
Archive



* Now Open *

Public Hours:

9:00 am - noon
Thursdays or by appointment
Call or write to confirm hours

Snail mail:

PO Box 4
350 Main Street
Old Saybrook CT 06475

Phone: 860-395-1635


Old
Saybrook
Historical
Society

PO Box 4
Old Saybrook CT
06475-1000
860-388-2622

 

  Archive Hours:
9 am - noon
Thursdays or
by appointment

 

  Library Hours:
10:30 - 12:30
Wednesdays or
by appointment


The Archive Section of the Old Saybrook Historical Society is staffed by a small group of volunteers and maintains a collection of original documents, copies, transcripts, photographs, motion pictures, and maps of historical and genealogical significance.

Files are available on nearly three hundred Old Saybrook families, which vary widely in depth and breadth. Many files contain only a single newspaper article or letter, but other files contain extensive genealogies, family histories, and photographs. The family records are filed alphabetically by surname, and files on ten prominent families occupy boxes of their own in the same section.

Limited searches will be conducted on request as time permits. Staffers will determine whether or not the Archive has any relevant material and, if so, will provide a free estimate of research charges ($10 per hour plus expenses [as of 2001]). Requests for extensive searches are usually referred to a professional genealogist. Write for further details to Mrs. Martha Soper at the OSHS post office box.

The Historical Society also has a library of over 1,200 volumes, on a wide variety of topics of local interest, at the Stevenson Archive. The library is indexed by a card catalog and a computer-searchable database.

OSHS Library Genealogy Bibliography:
compiliations, genealogies and family histories, biographies, autobiographies, and other works.

 
 


Saybrook
Colony
Founders
Association

New Home Page!


Since1985, descendants and historians of Saybrook Colony's original settlers have amassed a collection of files on several hundred families, many with descendant charts. The SCFA library of nearly one thousand volumes includes published genealogies, a few periodicals, books on local history, and other materials, and is stored with the Archives.

Annual membership dues of $12 (plus $5 initiation fee) [prices as of 2001] includes the quarterly newletter "Hear-Saye" covering not only SCFA business, but also scholarly essays written by members, reprints from other publications, genealogical queries, and an occasional discussion regarding unresolved ancestry. SCFA members and friends recently returned from their fourth tour of England, including visits to sites of interest to Saybrook Colony descendants such as Lyme Regis, Bristol, Chester, Broughton Castle, Banbury, and London.

PO Box 1635, Old Saybrook CT 06475-1000


Lion
Gardiner


Acton
Public
Library


The Acton Public Library maintains a modest collection of genealogical books, including compilations of vital records and published genealogies of some Old Saybrook families, as well as local history. While the librarians are knowledgeable, helpful, and happy to answer questions, please do not ask them to conduct searches or lookups. The majority of genealogies and related materials are found in the non-circulating, library-use-only reference section (REF). Many are kept in the back room (CASE); ask for these at the front desk.

60 Old Boston Post Road
Old Saybrook CT 06475
860-395-3184

Monday-Thursday
Noon-8:30pm
Friday-Saturday
9:00am-5:30pm
Sunday
1:00pm-5:00pm



Cemeteries

In the 1930's, Charles R. Hale organized and directed a project to record every headstone inscription in the state of Connecticut with funding from FERA and WPA. The complete collection is available at the Connecticut State Library, and the Old Saybrook edition "Headstone Inscriptions: Town of Old Saybrook, Connecticut to 1934" copied by E. A. Goullin is also available at the Acton Public Library and the Stevenson Archive. A companion volume, "Cypress Cemetery Tombstone Inscriptions" gathered by Mrs. Frederic Bebbe, is available at the Archive (Box 14).


Cypress Cemetery - College Street at Ward Place, Saybrook Point
Old Town House Cemetery
Riverside Cemetery - Sheffield Street, across from the Middle School
Saint John's Roman Catholic Cemetery - Old Middlesex Tpk., north of Saybrook Junction
Smallpox Cemetery - Gilbert Road at Schoolhouse Road
Upper [Junction] Cemetery - Main Street at Stage Road
a single plot, Sibel Crane, d. 1793


Additional Resources

USGenWeb Project Sites
National
Connecticut
Middlesex County
New London County
Chester, CT
Deep River, CT
Essex, CT
Lyme, CT
Old Lyme, CT

Connecticut State Library
Hartford, CT

Godfrey Memorial Library
Middletown, CT

Cyndi's List

D'Addezio.com Connecticut Vital Records Search

Special thanks to Dorothy Swan, Martha Soper, Elaine Staplins, Allison Elrod, Harold Elrod, Suzanna Otto, the Old Saybrook Historical Society and the Saybrook Colony Founders Association for invaluable assistance in the preparation of this guide.



Copyright © 1997-2001 by Mark Sanner. All rights reserved.
Updated 20090921  Tom Bombaci, Jr. and the CTGenWeb Project

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Last updated: 20090908.  Maintained as of 20090907 by Tom Bombaci, Jr., Grants, NM