What is the “black hole” period in genealogical research?
In 1887, New Hampshire law began to mandate that each town keep statistics of births, deaths and marriages. Before 1887, record keeping was haphazard at the whim of the town clerk. Many of the early records were lost, destroyed by flood or fire, or not recorded at all. The black hole refers to a period of difficult research extending from about 1820 to 1887.
