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“A Record of Descendants of The Puritan 

BENJAMIN TWITCHELL 

1632– 1920 

Compiled By RALPH EMERSON TWITCHELL”

Thus begins the touchstone of Twitchell genealogy in the U.S., the manuscript finished a century ago in 1925 and published four years later in 1929. 

This site continues Ralph Emerson Twitchell‘s (or “RET” 1859–1925) efforts to connect the family across time and generations, focusing on the Twitchell’s in the United States, descendants of Benjamin Twitchell (1625–1681).

We intend to republish parts of RET’s book on this website over time. The contents will be indexed by name, and include links to additional letters and other histories. Our blog posts will provide a history of building this site and potentially other things of interest. For example, read more about the manuscript of RET’s book in this post.

RET noted his manuscript “will be preserved in the files and records of the family of the writer, and additions and corrections for the future will be welcomed.” As Henry D. Twitchell Jr. (1921–1995) continued RET’s research, he acknowledged some errors in it. “Many individual records were totally lacking, incomplete or inaccurate. Assumptions that were made regarding a number of lineages have been challenged or disproven” (Read more about Henry’s attempted update in this blog post).

RET observed that such faults “cannot be attributed to any lack” on his part, “and must be charged in most instances to a lack of cooperation on the part of the descendants themselves.” It may prove that most errors are about early Twitchell ancestors or relationships with descendants and data about later descendants in the book—those with whom RET corresponded directly—are more accurate.

Another purpose of this site is to publish things about ancestors we knew, and materials we have from them. RET’s work only recorded the name of our grandfather John Mac Twitchell (1892–1967) so we’ve added more about him. For example, you can read about Mac’s trip to Los Angeles and then Delta Utah in 1923 looking for a place to settle down.

We started this effort in commemoration of the centennial of Mac’s son, our father Robert “Bob” Mack Twitchell‘s (1925–2015) birth. This post contains a biography of Bob written in 2000.

Individual efforts like this site cannot compete with the accuracy provided by cooperative efforts on wiki-type sites. We consider the final form of Twitchell history to be recorded on the “Wikipedia” of family history, FamilySearch, which includes greater documentary evidence and collaborative correction facilities.

Just like RET’s work was a step in discovering the truth, hopefully this site also informs more permanent and accurate histories stored finally in FamilySearch. We encourage you to use those facilities to discuss and correct any errors.

You can learn more about RET, his collaborator and the publication of the original Twitchell book in Finishing the 1929 History

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Members of the Twitchell family are glad to take up the work which Col. Twitchell was obliged to lay down and publish the genealogy upon the preparation of which he spent so many years of painstaking labor.

(KMT 11/27/2025)

A Photo of Robert Mack Twitchell 1925-2015, Salt Lake City Utah ca. 1960’s. We’re not sure where he was working, perhaps The Gold Strike Stamp Co. This is the earliest color image of “Bob” that we have. It was originally shot on Ectachrome.

Bob cherished his cooy of tbe Twitchell Family History written by Ralph Emerson Twitchell and made sure each of his five kids were familiar with the family history.

He participated in updating the records with his cousins Brent and Henry Twitchell and donated those researh materials to the J. Willard Marriot Library at The University of Utah.

(LJT-1/30/2026)