The Tillinghasts in America, The First Four Generations by Wayne G. Tillinghast Hard cover, 800 pp., library binding, black-and-white illustrations.

Researchers of early Rhode Island genealogy can rejoice over this rich new source of genealogical information on the Tillinghast family. Pardon Tillinghast, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren played major roles in the life of the colony and young state. Since they married into all of the leading families of Rhode Island, this genealogy reads like a Who's Who of colonial Providence. The author traces both males and female lines with abundant detail and meticulous documentation. Families in Newport, Kent County, Washington County, New London, Connecticut, and Swansea and Rehoboth Massachusetts are also studied in depth. Researchers of the following families will find this book especially helpful:

Aborn, Allen/Allin, Almy, Angell, Anthony, Aplin, Archer, Arnold, Atkins, Ayer, Bacon, Bailey, Baker, Bailey, Ballard, Ballou, Barber, Barney, Battey, Bentley, Blodgett, Bolles, Borden, Bowen, Bowler, Brayton, Briggs, Brown, Buffington, Bull, Burroughs, Burton, Carew, Carey, Carpenter, Case, Casey, Chase, Champlin, Chandler, Chapman, Clarke, Coggeshall, Cole, Collins, Colvin, Congdon, Cooke, Corey, Cornell, Cozzens, Cranston, Crawford, Crocker, Davis, Dennis, Dexter, Drowne, Dyer, Earl, Easton, Ellis, Fenner, Fiske, Flagg, Francis, Freebody, Foster, Fry, Gardner, Gibbs, Gladding, Goddard, Godfrey, Gorton, Greene, Griffing, Grinnell, Hadwen, Hale, Hall, Hallstead, Hammond, Harris, Haynes, Hazard, Henry, Hill, Hodges, Holden, Holmes, Holroyd, Hopkins, Hoxsie, Hurlburt, Huske, Irish, Ives, Jackson, James, Jencks, Johnson, Jones, Kelton, Kingsley, Knight, Knowles, Lewis, Luther, Manchester, Martin, Mason, Mathewson, Mawney, Mercer, Miller, Morton, Munroe, Nichols, Norris, Norton, Noxon, Odlin, Olney, Parsons, Pearce, Peckham, Potter, Power, Randall, Rathbun, Rawson, Remington, Reynolds, Rhodes, Robinson, Rogers, Rounds, Russell, Sabin, Salisbury, Sanford, Sheldon, Sisson, Slocum, Smith, Spencer, Spooner, Springer, Stafford, Starr, Streeter, Sweet, Tabor, Taylor, Thomas, Thompson, Thornton, Tibbetts, Townsend, Vaughn, Vernon, Wait, Wales, Ward, Waterman, Weaver, Westcott, Whipple, Whitford, Wickes, Wightman, Wilcox, Wiley, Williams, Wing, Winsor, Wood, Wyatt, and Young.

Based on patient archival research, the book includes far more than names and dates. Through this one family we see people's reactions to various events in Rhode Island history, including the burning of the Gaspee, the Revolution, religious controversies, the maritime trade, the slave trade, the issuance of paper money, inoculation, containment of smallpox and yellow fever, business successes and failures, and financial and romantic heartaches.

The genealogical detective work, especially on the male lines, is superb. Many longstanding confusions between people of the same name are carefully resolved. Some knotty genealogical problems—ones that baffled even the people who experienced them firsthand —are clearly explained. The extensive index is a delight to use.

This book was very favorably reviewed in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register of January 2007, p. 73. Henry Hoff, the editor, called it a "superb genealogy" and noted "Any genealogist planning to write a book -- or even just an article -- on a Rhode Island family should look at this work as a model."

Wayne Tillinghast, an eleventh generation descendant of Elder Pardon Tillinghast, was born and raised in Norwich, Connecticut. A graduate of the Norwich Free Academy, he received a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Connecticut and graduated with honors, ranking first in his class, from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1960. He has practiced law in Norwich since his admission to the bar in 1960 and is presently the senior partner of the Norwich law firm of Brown Jacobson P.C. Tillinghast, a litigator, specializes in representing hospitals and physicians in the defense of medical malpractice cases. From 1979 to 1999 he served as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Connecticut Law School, where he taught a course on Trial Practice.

While at law school Tillinghast authored several legal articles as a member of the school's law review and has since authored several historical and genealogical articles for legal publications as well as Rhode Island Roots. The Rhode Island Genealogical Society awarded him the Robert M. Sherman Fellowship for excellence in writing on Rhode Island genealogy in May 2005.