Edminster, Frank Custer Jr. The Edminster Family in America. Self Published, 1965.
Frank Custer Edminster Jr. (1903 - 1977) was a soil scientist and conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture who wrote and self-published an exhaustive genealogy of the Edminster name in 1965. Called "The Red Book" among family members, it is not without its faults, but his methodical approach of personally contacting as many family members as possible did return somewhat comprehensive results. I grew up with this book on my grandparents' shelf, and it is an essential reference point for anyone interested in launching a family history journey of their own. Frank did the hard boots-on-the-ground genealogy that cleared the way for the rest of us to dive into the details of history.
Makepeace, William. The Genealogy of the Makepeace Families in the United States. Printed by David Clapp. Boston, 1858. Inexhaustive study of the Makepeace family in America. Downloaded from archive.org on 20 May 2026.
Burial locations for the first three generations of Edminsters are not known. For the earliest existing Edminster graves, see what remains of the Edminster Cemetery in Freetown, MA, where the family of Noah Edminster Sr. (1739-1824), son of James Edminster Jr., is buried. Noah's son Noah Edminster Jr. migrated to Dixmont, Maine around the Revolutionary War, where he founded one of the largest branches of modern Edminsters. Noah Jr. and many other family members are buried at the Dixmont Corner Cemetery in Dixmont, Penobscot, Maine. Noah Edminster Sr.'s younger brother Zebedee Edminster Sr. also left Freetown around the time of the Revolutionary War and eventually settled in Cornish, New Hampshire, founding a large branch of the family which includes the Shafter-Edminsters who migrated from Vermont to California in the 1860s. The cemetery that Zebedee Sr. founded on his farm after his daughter Sarah died in 1804, the Edminster Cemetery in Cornish, NH, is still an active community cemetery, and contains the graves of Zebedee Sr. and his family among other Revolutionary War veterans.
"Shafter-Edminster Ancestors in New England" (2025) by Michael John Edminster. Work in progress. An inexhaustive study of grave locations in New England for ancestors of the Shafter-Edminster line that migrated to California in the 1860s. The California Shafter-Edminster line is descended from Zebedee Edminster Sr., minuteman and Revolutionary War soldier. This pamphlet is intended as a guide for touring locations associated with this line.
"English Overseas Possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms" Wikipedia, accessed 20 May 2026. Overview of the various roles and political allegiances of 17th century British colonies during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Older settlements in Virginia and the Caribbean were generally aligned with the Royalists, while newer Puritan settlements in New England were aligned with the Parliamentarians.
Hamilton, Marsha L. “Alternative Communities in Seventeenth Century Massachusetts” Historical Journal of Massachusetts Volume 32, No. 2 (Summer 2004). Retrieved May 2026 from HJM's online archive at http://www.westfield.ma.edu/mhj/.
Rapaport, Diane. "Scots for Sale: the Fate of Scottish Prisoners in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts." Lecture. Published to Sudbury Historical Society YouTube page, 25 Oct 2024.
"Scotch Prisoners Deported to New England by Cromwell, 1651-52" Page 4. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, October Meeting, 1927. Published online at JSTOR, accessed 13 May 2026.
Biography of Valentine Hill, owner of the mill and the rights to the indentured Scots at the Oyster River Plantation. Winthrop Memorials website, accessed 20 May 2026.
"The First Ironworks in the Colonies" Bulletin of the Business Historical Society, published online by Cambridge University Press, 24 Jul 2012.
Janet Regan and Curtis White. Saugus Iron Works: The Roland W. Robbins Excavations, 1948-1953. Chapter 2: "Hammersmith Through the Historical Texts"
Janet Regan and Curtis White. Saugus Iron Works: The Roland W. Robbins Excavations, 1948-1953. Chapter 10: "The Artifacts"
William Griswold and Donald Linebaugh, editors. Various authors. Saugus Iron Works: The Roland W. Robbins Excavations, 1948-1953. Full report (with image copyright restrictions) available on the NPS.gov website. Accessed 16 May 2026.
"Winthrop Buys Passage for Ironworkers" Article at MassMoments.org. Accessed 21 May 2026.
Baker, Emerson "Landscapes of Indenture: Scottish Prisoners of War in 17th Century New England." Lecture. Published to Partnership of Historic Boston YouTube page, 28 Jun 2023.
Burrage, Henry S. "Why Was Roger Williams Banished?" The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 5., No. 1, (Jan 1901), pp 1-17 (17 pages). Accessed 20 May 2026 at uchicago.edu.
Aultman, Jennifer L. From Thanksgiving to War: Native Americans in Criminal Cases of Plymouth Colony, 1630-1675. Distinguished Undergraduate Thesis. University of Virginia, 1997. Revised Feb 2001.
Miller, Perry. The New England Mind: The Seventeeth Century. Cambridge, MA, 1939.
Miller, Perry. The New England Mind: From Colony to Province. Cambridge, MA, 1953. Google preview.
The passenger manifest for the ketch John & Sarah, captained by Thomas Kemble, is kept at the Scottish Prisoners of War Society website.
Thomas Bellows Wyman and Henry Herbert Edes. The Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, in the County of Middlesex and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1629 -1818. David Clapp and Son, Boston, 1879. Page 330 for John D. Edminster's family.
Suffolk Deeds, Liber I (1629 -1653). Rockwell and Churchill, City Printers: Boston, 1880. Pages 208, 275, 86, 87, 168, 169, 288 for Thomas Makepeace.
"Remarks on the Compilation of the Boston Book of Records" March 1927 meeting of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Accessed 20 May 2026. Various references to Thomas Makepeace.
Book of Possessions of the Town of Boston, ca. 1644 -1693. Available at DigitalCommonwealth Massachusetts online collection. Page 38 for Thomas Makepeace.
Company of Undertakers of the Iron Works in New England. Records of the Iron Works at Lynn, Mass., 1650 - 1686. Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School. Accessed 21 May 2026.
Vital Records of Freetown, Mass., 1686-1793. Copied from the city clerk's office records, Fall River, Mass. Pages 39-40 for James Edminster Jr.'s family. Accessed 20 May 2026 at archive.org
Transcripts of the Records of New Plymouth Colony, 1620-1691. Published online at the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts website. Accessed 22 May 2026. Various references to William Makepeace.
Child, William Henry. History of the Town of Cornish, New Hampshire, With Genealogical Record, 1763-1910: Vol. 1, Narrative. The Rumford Press, Concord, NH.
Child, William Henry. History of the Town of Cornish, New Hampshire, With Genealogical Record, 1763-1910: Vol. 2, Genealogical Record. The Rumford Press, Concord, NH. Retrieved from the Library of Congress website 21 May 2026.
The Scottish Prisoners of War Society in New England is a community of researchers and descendants dedicated to preserving the memory of indentured Scottish POWs from the battles of Dunbar and Worcester. The profile page for John D. Edminster is located here.
The Scots' Charitable Society, the oldest such society in the western hemisphere, was founded in 1657 as a mutual aid society for indentured Scots who faced deplorable living and working conditions in 17th century America. The society was founded in part by Battle of Worcester POW William Anderson who arrived on the John & Sarah alongside John D. Edminster.
The city of Durham, New Hampshire's heritage commission maintains two brief documents related to the Scots indentured at the Oyster River Plantation: chronology of the Durham area and a slideshow of the periods of development of Oyster River-Durham.
Coming soon...