Birchard Family History
For those interested in Birchard Family History, you may order copies of two volumes lovingly written by Edna Manning Laughter. These two volumes are first of a four-part series that traces a family from Puritan Connecticut through Ontario Quakerism and on to Pioneering the Canadian Prairie.
Volume I is The Quiet Puritans: The Birchards of New England, Volume I, The History of a Family, Birchards, McMillans and Rears. It starts with the Birchard family in Essex, England in 1520 and tracks the family in Colonial Connecticut. Some members of the family are followed through the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Other highlights:
- Thomas Birchard’s part in the Rebellion on Martha’s Vineyard
- The seven Connecticut towns the Birchards helped found
- Colonial New England purchasing practices and money values
- Thomas Birchard’s burial place
- A complete floor plan, photos and story of a 275 year old Birchard house that probably sheltered runaway slaves
- The Birchard connection to Connecticut’s Charter Oak
- Benedict Arnold’s connection to the Birchard family
- Many colored photos, maps and family charts
- Complete name index - See if your family members are listed
- 234 pages, hardbound
Look at volume I: Table of Contents and sample pages
Volume I was reviewed in the September, 2006 issue of “The Nutmegger,” the periodical of the Connecticut Society of Genealogists.
Volume II, The Pioneering Quakers: The Birchards of Ontario starts with Jerusha Butler Birchard’s ancestors. Elisha Birchard’s father and grandparents are identified. Elisha’s children became Quakers and immigrated to Ontario. Volume II continues the story of the Birchard family when three brothers from Vermont, sons of Elisha Birchard, migrate into Upper Canada and become Quakers in the early 1800s. Their grandfather, who had previously been unknown to Elisha’s descendants, is identified. Many letters, pictures and other documents have been discovered that were generated by various members of the family. The story of the Birchard family is continued through the thirteenth generation from their genesis in Essex, England. Some highlights:
- Elisha Birchard’s father and grandfather are identified
- The ancestors of Elisha’s grandmother (Lydia Backus) wife (Jerusha Butler ), and daughter-in-law (Ruth Pearson) are included
- The Revolutionary War adventures of several Birchard and Butler soldiers
- A family chart showing the relationships of Birchard and Pearson family members to several Rebels of the Canadian Rebellion of 1837; The Patriot’s War
- A scrapbook and Picture Gallery, including the Fairsted Church in Essex where the early Birchards and Robinsons worshipped. Henry Robinson was Thomas Birchard’s father-in-law and the rector of the church at Fairsted.
History of Quaker migration from the British Isles to the Delaware Valley, then to Upper Canada. - Quaker culture and customs
- Complete name index - see if your family members are listed
- 342 pages, hardbound with extensive endnotesand maps
Look at Volume II: Table of Contents and sample pages
Note: Documenting family history is an ever-evolving process and not all information obtained is correct. See a list of corrections to this volume submitted by readers.
To order either of these volumes priced at $45 plus postage, contact elaughter@comcast.net
The third and newest addition to the series is now available: The Wandering Scots: The McMillans of Ontario, The History of a Family Birchards, McMillans and Rears, Volume III.