Current Projects

The Connecticut Ancestry Society is currently sponsoring two research initiatives to better document the lives of our Fairfield County antecedents: “Fairfield County Families in 1790” and “Immigrants to Fairfield County.” We warmly encourage participation in these projects from both members and non-members. The goal of both projects is to produce articles about these distinct groups for publication in Connecticut Ancestry.

To get started with one of these projects, reach out to our editor by email (editor <at> connecticutancestry.org) to reserve the individual you would like to write about.

Fairfield County Families in 1790

The first decennial census of the United States of America in 1790 lists 6,421 heads of household in Fairfield County by name and then accounts for the remaining household members through five demographic categories: free white males aged 16 and over, free white males under 16, free white females, all other free persons [free people of color], and slaves [enslaved persons]. The goal of this project is to identify as many of those household members as possible, putting some “flesh” on the bones of the 1790 Census.

As many of these individuals contributed to the efforts of the American Revolution of 1775-1783, in 2025, the 250th Anniversary of the start of the War, the Connecticut Ancestry Society is renewing the call to recognize these households.

History of the Project

In August of 2013, the Board of Directors of Connecticut Ancestry Society announced a project to research and record information about residents of Fairfield County who appeared on the first United States census in 1790 this project is similar to 1790 projects underway in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Western Massachusetts. Our project inaugurated the effort in Connecticut.

More details and examples can be found in Fairfield County Families of 1790.

Immigrants to Fairfield County

Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, Fairfield County’s population was enriched with the arrival of immigrants from all over the globe. The goal of this project is to document the lives of immigrants to Fairfield County after the Revolutionary War era. Details as known, should include information on their country of origin, immigration and naturalization, and their life in the United States.

History of the Project

In November of 2014, the Board of Directors of Connecticut Ancestry Society announced a project to research and record information about immigrants to Fairfield County following the Revolutionary War. This project is similar to the above 1790 sketches.

More details and examples can be found in Immigrants to Fairfield County.