The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1700-1750

Taking as its subject the first fifty years of the eighteenth century and following the arrangement of the two earlier works in this distinguished series, the third volume of "The Complete Book of Emigrants" provides a comprehensive list of emigrants from surviving records in English archives. The records used in this volume, in addition to the usual spread of sources, derive principally from (1) Plantation Apprenticeship Bindings; (2) Port Books; and (3) Convict Pardons on Condition of Transportation. Again, as with the other volumes, there are indexes of names and ships. Altogether some 25,000 emigrants are identified, bringing the total names in the three volumes to over 75,000.

This is the third volume in what will be a four-volume set (Vol. 1: 1607-1660 , Genealogical Pub., 1987; Vol. 2: 1661-1699 , Genealogical Pub., 1991); a final volume is being prepared that will end with 1775. The purpose of the series is to publish extracts from original records about as many emigrants to America as can be identified. The extracts are taken from a number of manuscript sources as well as books by the author and others which identify emigrants from England to America during this period. Each volume contains an index of persons and an index to ships mentioned in the extracts. Entries included from court and apprentice records contain more personal information than those from the port books. The latter were designed to record ships, their masters, departure dates, destinations, and shippers-owners of cargoes. The book is not a complete list of all emigrants leaving England for America during the period under study, because the records of many persons no longer exist or remain undiscovered. There have been many other similar books on 18th-century English emigrants that make valuable contributions to the literature, including John Wareing's Emigrants to America: Indentured Servants Recruited in London, 1718-1733 (Genealogical Pub., 1985) and Marion J. and Jack Kaminkow's Original Lists of Emigrants in Bondage from London to the American Colonies, 1719-1744 (LJ 8/67, o.p.). Coldham's index contains many of the same persons, but also many that were not included in these and other books on the subject. The origin of each extract is given, enabling the reader to find the source for more detailed information. Genealogists and other historians will welcome this resource for the study of colonial ancestors and immigration. Librarians serving this type of researcher will want all of the volumes in this series.
- Raymond S. Wright III, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, Ut.
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