We now have volumes online illustrating the early history of Catholics in Salem. This latest update to Massachusetts: (Image Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 includes records from Saint Mary’s Church and Immaculate Conception of Salem. St. Mary’s was the earlier church, which was replaced by Immaculate Conception as the parish grew. These St. Mary’s records are not to be confused with St. Mary’s Italian Church of Salem which was not established until the 1900s. The following volumes comprise this update:
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Baptisms and Marriages, 1824-1828
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 1831-1841
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Index to Baptisms 1855-1864
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Baptisms, 1855-1864
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Baptisms, 1865-1873
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Baptisms, 1874-1883
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Baptisms, 1883-1888
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Baptisms, 1889-1900
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Baptisms, 1900
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Confirmations, 1888-1900
Immaculate Conception (Salem) Marriages, 1871-1900
Saint Mary (Salem) Baptisms, 1840-1854
Saint Mary (Salem) Marriages, 1842-1870
We also have records from Sacred Heart Parish in Roslindale:
Sacred Heart (Roslindale) Index to Baptisms, 1893-1900
Sacred Heart (Roslindale) Baptisms, 1893-1900
Sacred Heart (Roslindale) Marriages, 1893-1900
Note added November 29, 2017:
Our policy is to name volumes as they are named in the Archdiocesan archives. They have decided to name the two St. Mary’s volumes as Immaculate Conception, so we have changed the volume names accordingly. This change is based upon the following research, “Saint Mary’s, Salem, was the second parish in the diocese founded in 1826. The parish was split in two with the establishment of Saint James in 1850, this to help serve the immediate area but also the large number of missions Saint Mary’s had become responsible for in the surrounding area. By 1857, a new church was completed to replace the old wooden church of Saint Mary’s, but because few priests were available they decided to merge the two parishes into one again, and rename this large parish the Immaculate Conception.”