History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut; By William Cothren; 851 pp.; Paperback; Published: 1854; Reprinted: 2008; ISBN: 9780806307817; Item # CF1160D

From 1,500 manuscript volumes of church, state, town, and society records, and from many thousands of rare manuscripts consulted during the course of seven years' labor, Mr. Cothren succeeded in developing an exhaustive chronicle of the persons, places, and events which most accurately characterized Woodbury's history up to the middle of the 19th century. Where the book succeeds to an unusual degree is in the portions devoted to biography and genealogy, which occupy one-half of the text. The genealogies, of which there are some eighty-five, are a flesh and blood inventory of the families most intimately linked to the rise and progress of the town of Woodbury. They commence with the immigrant ancestor and continue through several generations in the direct line of descent, not uncommonly naming scores upon scores of progeny.