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A Colonial event for each day of May taken from a book published in 1899.  These events are not in chronological order, but rather an event for each day of the year, like a "This Day is History".
   

  

 

 

 

  
This Day in Colonial Times - May

Source:  A Year Book of Colonial Times Compiled by the Rev. Frederick S. Sill, D.D. Member of the Society of Colonial Wars, E. P. Dutton & Company, New  York, 1899 

May  1 1690 - The New England and New York Colonies resolved to attempt the conquest of Canada.
May  2 1746 - Engagement in the Gulf of Mexico between Capt. Seymour in the Snow Dragon and Capt. Jefferis in the Greyhound and a Spanish ship of war. 
May  3 1717 - Brunswick, Maine, was set off as a township.
May  4 1626 - Peter Minuit became third Colonial Governor of New Netherlands.
May  5 1755 - Philip Schuyler received a Captain's commission from Gov. De Lancy.
May  6 1697 - The Charter of Trinity Church, New York, was signed by William III.
May  7 1725 - Battle with Indians at Fryeburg, Maine.
May  8 1763 - Pontiac and other chiefs held a Council with Major Henry Gladwin at the Fort in Detroit.
May  9 1640 - An ordinance was passed by New Amsterdam for the protection of the Indian cornfields.
May 10 1676 - An "Epidemical cold" prevailed in New England, so that the military forces were disbanded for a season of recovery, by order of the Courts.
May 11 1741 - Executions in Connection with the Negro Plot in New York began.
May 12 1678 - The King of France granted a monopoly of trade on the Mississippi to La Salle.
May 13 1607 - Arrival of the London Company Colonists with Capt. Christopher Newport in the James River, Virginia.
May 14 1607 - The London Company Colonists landed, and established Jamestown.
May 15 1760 - The French Shipping in Quebec harbour was destroyed by the Colonial forces.
May 16 1691 - Leisler and Milborne were hanged in New York for reputed treason.
May 17 1760 - Siege of Quebec raised by the French, and England left in possession of all Canada.
May 18 1731 - The boundary line between New York and Massachusetts was settled.
May 19 1676 - The "Falls Fight" under Captain Turner.
May 20 1690 - Destruction of Falmouth, now Portland, Me., by French and Indians.
May 21 1607 - Capt. John Smith and his companions started to discover the head of the James River.
May 22 1637 - The Hartford troops under Captain Mason persuaded the Mohegan Indians under Uncas to join them against the Pequods.
May 23 1773 - Battle of Sag Harbour, Long Island.
May 24 1607 - Captain Smith's company erected a cross on the islet near the Falls of the "Powhatton" River and changed its name to "James."
May 25 1637 - Capt. John Mason arrived at the fort of Sassacus, chief of the Pequods.
May 26 1637 - Defeat and rout of the Pequod Indians under Sassacus, by Capt. John Mason and Uncas.
May 27 1754 - Date of a Poster of the New Theatre in Water Street, Philadelphia.
May 28 1690 - Capture of Fort Loyal, at Portand, Me., by the French and Indians.
May 29 1645 - Some of the Indian sachems agreed to a treaty of peace with the Dutch of New Amsterdam.
May 30 1685 - Date of Wm. Penn's great treaty with the Indians for a large portion of Pennsylvania.
May 31 1754 - Washington succeeded Col. Joshua Fry as colonel in command of the Ohio Expedition.

 
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New England Early Genealogy Database
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Search Revolutionary War Rolls   See images of the actual regimental rolls from the National Archives.  They are being put online through the joint project of National Archives and Footnote.com.

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Search Colonial Families in the U.S.   This database covers the families of the early English colonies in America. Beginning with the first landing at Jamestown this series covers families up through the start of the American Revolutionary War and beyond into the Nineteenth Century. Many vital records are included, as well as locations of births, marriages, and deaths. In addition to containing family genealogies this database also contains armorial bearings, or coats of arms, for some of the more prominent families from England and Scotland. 

Old Colony Ancestors Online    Access this database of nearly 200,000 names with roots in Southeastern Massachusetts, complete with citations, containing information on over 57,000 marriages, with a total of more than 950,000 text records. Some families are followed for only 2-3 generations, but many are traced for up to 15 generations. Once a family moved beyond the Southeastern Massachusetts area, most reports stop. Some are followed as they migrated westward into the Berkshires and up into Vermont and upstate New York.

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