Rhode Island Genealogical Society

Registration link will be available a few weeks before the event.
We are using Eventbrite to manage registrations and send reminders, including your Zoom link. Don’t miss out! Members can register for free, non member tickets are $5. Join RIGS now to enjoy all our great member benefits, including free Zoom/Hybrid Meeting registration and access to our meeting recordings!

Speaker: Laura Cubbage-Draper, CG
Laura Cubbage-Draper. CG is a genealogical researcher, lecturer, and the owner of LCD Genealogy Services. A New Jersey Native with deep Pennsylvania roots, she began researching her familiy in 1999 and earned the Certified Genealogist credential in 2024. Laura holds a certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University, is a graduate of ProGen 40, and has completed many institute courses. She has spoken at local and state societies and libraries where she enjoys teaching about genealogical methodology and resources.
Website: https://lcdgenealogy.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-cubbage-draper/

Featured Presentations:

Genealogical timelines for Organization, Analysis, and Problem-Solving

In researching our family, we gather extensive amounts of records and information to be compiled. Timelines are a tool that allows us to organize our data, and to visually identify patterns, gaps, themes, and relationships. This program will provide examples of genealogical timelines (migration patterns, research gaps, specific record type, historical perspective, etc.) as well as suggestions on creating timelines in Microsoft Word and Excel.

Using Historical Newspapers in Genealogical Research

Before Facebook and Twitter, the local paper was the place to get the scoop on your neighbors. Historical newspapers are indispensable to genealogy research and learning about your ancestors and their community. This program will highlight the importance of this resource as well as the range of details that can be discovered, including how and where to access digitized US newspapers, plus search techniques and tips.

Hybrid and Virtual Meetings are recorded and available to RIGS members on our website.

Saturday, March 21, 2026

RIGS Half Day Member Meeting

Location TBA & Virtually on Zoom

RIGS Hybrid Meeting — March 21, 2026
Hybrid meeting (Location TBA and via Zoom | Registration Required (Registration link will be available a few weeks before the event)

Schedule:
• 12:00 PM – Social Time (online and in person!) with coffee and light refreshments
• 12:45 PM – News & Announcements
• 1:00 PM – Featured Speaker: Diane MacLean Boumenot, CG

If you would like to bring something for the refreshment table, it would be greatly appreciated.

Speaker: Diane MacLean Boumenot, CG
Diane MacLean Boumenot, CG, specializes in southern New England family history research. She has published articles in several journals and in 2018 she co-authored, with Maureen Taylor, the National Genealogical Society's Research in the States volume on Rhode Island. Diane currently serves as editor of the journal Rhode Island Roots. She holds a B.A. in American History and English from Wesleyan University. Diane serves as Mentor, ProGen 68 and is the Past President of the New England Chapter, Association of Professional Genealogists.

Featured Presentations:

The Real Life of Vital Records: Secrets to Finding Them Today
Understanding when, where and why vital records were created, and the changes in those practices over the years, can help us find them today. What additional abstracts have been created? What forms of these records are available online? What kind of records might take the place of a vital record? Improve your family history research today by maximizing your ability to locate the records that tie generations together.

How the Mills Changed Everything: New England Mill Life 1795-1920
Textile and other mills changed the lives of many New England families, sometimes in ways that are not obvious. What was the experience in the mills? How did it change over time? What can we know about the buildings, the machines, and the products? And what records, at what points, help us learn about the mill families' lives?

Hybrid and Virtual Meetings are recorded and available to RIGS members on our website.

Saturday, May 16, 2026

RIGS Annual Meeting

8:30 am to 3:00 pm

New England Institute of Technology, 1 New England Tech Boulevard, East Greenwich, RI 02818

SAVE THE DATE!!

RIGS Annual Meeting — May 16, 2026
In Person | Registration Required (Registration link will be available a few weeks before the event)

Schedule: Full details will be posted as soon as they are available. Our scheduled speakers are:
• Charlotte Carrington Farmer
• John McNiff
• Michael J. Leclerc, CG

Charlotte Carrington Farmer

Charlotte Carrington-Farmer received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and she is a Professor of History at Roger Williams University. Her book, Roger Williams and His World was published with Broadview Press in 2025. Her research centers on dissent in seventeenth-century New England, and she has published book chapters on Thomas Morton and Roger Williams, and an article on Mary Williams. In the field of equine history, she has published a journal article, two book chapters, and a state of the field essay on equines in colonial New England and the early modern Atlantic world. Her second book: Equine Empire: Horses and the Making of the Atlantic World, is under contract with the University Press of Kentucky and will be published next year. She is active in the field of public history and has received funding and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Yale University, the Mellon Foundation, and the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium.

Roger Williams and His World: Book Talk
Join Charlotte Carrington-Farmer (Professor of History at Roger Williams University) to as she talks about her new book: Roger Williams and His World: https://broadviewpress.com/product/roger-williams-and-his-world/#tab-description. Roger Williams, a 17th-century English immigrant to New England, was famously banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 for his “new and dangerous opinions” on religious freedom, the separation of church and state, and Indigenous land rights. Following his banishment, Williams settled the town of Providence with the permission of the Narragansett Sachems, creating a colony that was arguably the freest in the western world. Williams is the most written-about person of 17th-century New England, yet he is notoriously difficult to read. This collection draws together a wide range of primary sources by and about Williams in order to make this history accessible to a broad audience. It frames Williams within his wider world, encompassing all aspects of his life, from the famous to the lesser known. The included source texts vividly bring to life Williams’s early years in England, his migration to New England, his banishment, the founding of Providence, his revolutionary views on religious freedom and the separation of church and state, and the wide-ranging interactions he had with Indigenous peoples. This collection draws you into his 17th-century world firsthand, revealing the competing impulses and tensions at play.

John McNiff

John McNiff, a Rhode Island native, is an historian, archaeologist, storyteller, and performer with a lifelong passion for early New England. McNiff is what happens when you drop a historian into a storm at sea, hand him a musket, a script, and a trowel, and ask him to explain the 17th century in a way that makes you feel it. McNiff doesn’t just teach history, he performs it, lives it, and translates it for the modern soul. McNiff majored in history at Rhode Island College, worked as a commercial fisherman and in advertising sales, then earned a MA in Anthropology at Binghamton University, and launched a career in archaeology. His fieldwork has taken him across New England, England, and Mexico. For 27 years, McNiff served as a Park Ranger with the National Park Service, at the Roger Williams National Memorial in Providence, specializing in Roger Williams, European contact with Native inhabitants, and 17th-century New England history. McNiff retired from the National Park Service in 2023 after 27 years of service. He continues to tell the story of Roger Williams and Rhode Island history in public programs both here and abroad.

Meet Roger Wiliams

So many people say history is boring. Not this time. This program is unlike any lecture you’ve ever attended. No PowerPoint, no slides, just Roger Williams himself, speaking directly to you.

Historian and archaeologist John McNiff steps into the shoes of Rhode Island’s founder in a compelling first-person portrayal. In bringing Williams to life, you’ll experience the struggles that drove English men and women to leave their homeland for a “so-called” new world — one that was already home to thriving Native nations. Step into the 17th century, where religion, politics, and the very structure of society were up for debate. What was it like to live in this “New England”? Could neighbors of such different cultures live side by side? What was the legacy of Roger Williams’ life work, and who is responsible for seeing that it continues? Roger Williams will speak for about 45–50 minutes, followed by open time for questions and discussion.

Michael J. Leclerc, CG

Michael Leclerc is a popular genealogical presenter, teacher, author, and editor worldwide and will discuss “Writing for your Genealogy Journal.” He has been a facilitator and instructor in Boston University’s Genealogy Studies Program for over a decade. He holds credentials as a Certified Genealogist® from the Board for Certification of Genealogists.

Resources at the American French Genealogical Society

DIRECTIONS:

From the North: Head south on I-95. Take Exit 24A - RI-2 East Greenwich/West Warwick. Turn right at the end of the ramp onto RI-2 S/Quaker Ln. At the traffic light, turn right on to Division Road. At the traffic Circle, continue straight to stay on Division Road. Take the first left and follow the road left to the front of the building.

From the South: Head north on I-95. Take Exit 24A - RI-2 South to RI-4, East Greenwich. Merge on to RI-2. At the traffic light, turn right on to Division Road. At the traffic Circle, continue straight to stay on Division Road. Take the first left and follow the road left to the front of the building.