Rev. Frederick Lewis Weis, Th.D. (August 22, 1895 – April 11, 1966) was an American historian and the writer of a number of well-known

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinsh ...

books. Born in

Cranston, Rhode Island Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island. The official population of the city in the 2020 United States Census was 82,934, making it the second largest in the state. The center of population of Rhode Island i ...

to John Peter Carl Weis and his wife Georgina Lewis, both natives of Massachusetts, Frederick was the second child of four children. In April 1913, he entered the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

, graduating in March 1917. He served on the ''Wisconsin'' and ''North Dakota'' and retired prematurely due to illness. He was active in various genealogical organizations and wrote numerous books and articles. He is today still remembered as a foundational writer in many areas of genealogical research. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Society of Genealogists The American Society of Genealogists is the scholarly honorary society of the genealogical field. Founded by John Insley Coddington, Arthur Adams, and Meredith B. Colket, Jr., in December 1940, its membership is limited to 50 living fellows. ASG pu ...

in 1951.American Society of Genealogists: All Fellows.
/ref> He died at

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The most populous municipality abutting Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is the Connecticut River, Brattleboro is located about no ...

Selected works

*''Magna Charta Sureties, 1215'', Baltimore, 1964 *''Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England between 1623 and 1650'', 1951 *''Colonial Clergy of Maryland Delaware and Georgia'' *''Colonial Clergy of the Middle Colonies: New York New Jersey and Pennsylvania 1628 1776'' *''Colonial Clergy of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina'', 1995 *''The Colby Family in Early America'', Caledonia, The Colonial Press, 1970 *''Eight lines of descent of John Prescott, founder of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1645, from Alfred the Great, King of England, 871-901''

References

External links

The journals
of Frederick Lewis Weis are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Weis, Frederick Lewis American genealogists 1895 births 1967 deaths United States Naval Academy alumni People from Cranston, Rhode Island 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists 20th-century American male writers Historians from Rhode Island