Author Archive

New Database Portsmouth, NH: High School Students, 1846-1902

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Monochrome photograph
Lantern slide of the original Portsmouth High School on Daniel Stree. Courtesy of the Portsmouth Athenaeum.

We are very happy to announce the new database: Portsmouth, NH: High School Students, 1846-1902. This project is the result of an excellent partnership between the Portsmouth Athenaeum and NEHGS. The information about the students in this database can provide a more personal insight into their high school experience. This database contains eight volumes with over 2,300 pages of information about the High School students and includes over 48,000 searchable records and 50,00 searchable names.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire first established a system of primary schools in 1846 through an act of the General Assembly. In 1848 Portsmouth organized its system of education and elected a School Board to oversee its affairs.
The Portsmouth Athenaeum has held the city’s historic school records on deposit since 1991, and in 2020 partnered with The New England Historic and Genealogical Society to digitize and index records related to Portsmouth High School for the years 1846 through 1902. These records include students’ names, information about their studies, when they graduated, and occasionally students’ birth dates and names of parents or guardians.

The records included in this database are now housed in the collections of Portsmouth Public Library. Since most records do not provide an age for the student, we have primarily used a record type of Residence, meaning that the student lived in Portsmouth when the records was written. Some birth records are included in this database.

We thank the volunteers who have made this database possible, including; Carol Demers, Carol Farrington, Joan Hammond, Peggy Hodges, Pamela Hugie, Susan Kindstedt, Ginny Marshall, Linda Martin-Berke, Robin Merrow, Melissa Millay , Alan Phelps, Bob Rainville , Carol Sawyer, John Seavey, Gail Wine, Mara Witzling, and Elaine Wood. If you would like to become part of the team working on rewarding genealogical projects, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Archdiocese of Boston: New searchable records for Cambridge and Brockton

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St. Patrick (CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0))

Today we have added 12 new volumes to the Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 database. Today’s addition delivers the parishes of Blessed Sacrament in Cambridge and St. Patrick in Brockton. This update includes over 2,500 pages, 22,000 records and over 77,000 searchable names.

In 1905, St. Mary’s Parish of Cambridge was divided. The portion between Massachusetts Avenue and the Charles River became Blessed Sacrament, under Father John A. Crowe.

Prior to 1856, Catholics in Brockton travelled to Randolph for Mass. In 1856, a priest was assigned to Brockton to build a new parish. St. Patrick’s church was dedicated in 1859.

The volumes published today are:
• Blessed Sacrament (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1905-1908
• Blessed Sacrament (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1909-1915
• Blessed Sacrament (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1915-1920
• Blessed Sacrament (Cambridge) Confirmations, 1919-1920
• Blessed Sacrament (Cambridge) First Communions, 1907-1920
• Blessed Sacrament (Cambridge) Marriages, 1905-1908
• Blessed Sacrament (Cambridge) Marriages, 1909-1920
• St. Patrick (Brockton) Baptisms, 1904-1910
• St. Patrick (Brockton) Baptisms, 1910-1920
• St. Patrick (Brockton) Baptisms, 1920
• St. Patrick (Brockton) Confirmations, 1903-1917
• St. Patrick (Brockton) Marriages, 1910-1920

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online. If you would like to become part of the team working on rewarding genealogical projects, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Archdiocese of Boston: New searchable records for five parishes

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Picture of a church
St. Mary in Randolph from One Hundred Years of Progress by James Sullivan, p.695

Today we have added 3 new volumes and updated 9 volumes for the Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 database. Today’s addition provides the parishes of St. Ann in Dorchester, St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly, St. Peter in Cambridge. St. Mary in Randolph and Immaculate Conception in Malden. This update includes over 1,600 pages, 20,000 records and over 75,000 searchable names.

The first Mass at Immaculate Conception (Malden) was celebrated on Christmas Day in 1854. At the time, the parish attracted Catholics from many towns north of Boston including Medford, Melrose, Wakefield, South Reading, Stoneham, Winchester, and Everett.

The parish of St. Ann (Dorchester) celebrated its first Mass on Christmas in 1880 after breaking off from St. Gregory’s parish.

St. Mary’s in Randolph was built in 1849, as the Catholic population in Randolph expanded, no longer needing to travel to Quincy to worship.

St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly began as a mission of Immaculate Conception (Salem). The church was dedicated in Beverly in 1870, and in 1871 they became their own parish. St. Mary Star of the Sea in Beverly also ran missions in Manchester and Ipswich, and as the Catholic population grew, a second church was built in Beverly Farms, called St. Margaret.

St. Peter was established in 1848 as the Catholic population of Cambridge grew; it broke off from the parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus. At the beginning, this parish not only served Catholics of Cambridge, but also Catholics from many towns in northeast inland Massachusetts. The church is located in between Fresh Pond and Harvard Square.

The volumes delivered are as follows:
• Immaculate Conception (Malden) Marriages, 1868-1904
• St. Ann (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1889-1904
• St. Mary (Randolph) Baptisms, 1888-1908
• St. Mary (Randolph) Marriages, 1888-1907
• St. Mary Star of the Sea (Beverly) Baptisms, 1895-1909
• St. Mary Star of the Sea (Beverly) Baptisms, 1909-1920
• St. Mary Star of the Sea (Beverly) Baptisms, 1920
• St. Mary Star of the Sea (Beverly) Confirmations, 1898-1920
• St. Mary Star of the Sea (Beverly) Marriages, 1871-1915
• St. Mary Star of the Sea (Beverly) Marriages, 1915-1920
• St. Peter (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1890-1920
• St. Peter (Cambridge) Marriages, 1893-1920

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online. If you would like to become part of the team working on rewarding genealogical projects, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Archdiocese of Boston: New searchable records for Dorchester & Lowell

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Map of Lowell, Massachusetts
1876 bird’s eye view map of Lowell, Massachusetts. Public Domain courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Today we have added 10 new volumes, and updated 3 volumes, for the Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 (https://www.americanancestors.org/search/databasesearch/2726/massachusetts-roman-catholic-archdiocese-of-boston-records-1789-1920). Today’s additions include St. Margaret in Dorchester and Immaculate Conception in Lowell. This update includes 13 volumes, 1,200 pages, 19,000 records, and 70,000 searchable names.

St. Margaret branched off from an existing church, St. Peter’s in Dorchester in the late 1800s. The plans for constructing this church were officially embarked upon on June 10, 1893, the feast of St. Margaret.

Immaculate Conception in Lowell was run by the Oblate Order. The church was dedicated in 1877 as Lowell’s Catholic population grew.

The volumes in this release are:
• St. Margaret (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1901-1918 (Part 1)
• St. Margaret (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1901-1918 (Part 2)
• St. Margaret (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1918-1920
• St. Margaret (Dorchester) Confirmations, 1894-1915
• St. Margaret (Dorchester) Confirmations, 1919-1920
• St. Margaret (Dorchester) Marriages, 1893-1919
• St. Margaret (Dorchester) Marriages, 1919-1920
• Immaculate Conception (Lowell) Baptisms, 1901-1907
• Immaculate Conception (Lowell) Baptisms, 1908-1916
• Immaculate Conception (Lowell) Baptisms, 1917-1920
• Immaculate Conception (Lowell) First Communions, 1914-1920
• Immaculate Conception (Lowell) Confirmations, 1916-1920
• Immaculate Conception (Lowell) Marriages, 1896-1920

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online. If you would like to become part of the team working on rewarding genealogical projects, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.


Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Vital Records from The NEHGS Register Volumes 14-22 Updated

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Engraving of a battle scene
Engraving of the Battle of Bunker’s Hill from Volume 15, page 192a.

Today we are releasing volumes 14 through 22 (1860-1868) of the in-depth re-indexing of all the genealogical records in the database Vital Records from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. This update includes 9 volumes, 3,700 pages, 85,000 records and 175,000 searchable names and has about four times the number of records previously indexed for these volumes.

This ongoing project will unlock the value of all the information captured in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register since the first publication in 1847. We are reviewing every published article add extracting a broad set of records for those articles that are genealogical in nature. So, in addition to birth, marriage, and death records there are now records of type; residence, immigration, military records, church dismissals, and more. The indexing in this effort includes spouses, parents, and locations.

Users of American AncesTREES will also benefit by being able to get hints from the newly indexed volumes in their family trees.

This update is made possible by the splendid efforts of our volunteers: Valerie Abrahamsen, Nancy Borman, Carol Botteron, Becki Clarke, Patricia Dalpiaz, Fran Danico, Randy Hube, Karen Jarret, Toni Lattimer, Jan Lundquist, Kristina Magill, Ginny Marshall, Paula Muggleton, Ida Nystrom, Margaret Parker, Karen Ristic, Ray Ristic, Kay Sencabaugh, Olga Tugarina, Susan Van Allen, Charlie Watson, Jaimie Williams-Peterson, and Rich Wood. If you would like to become part of the team working on this rewarding project to revamp the index to the NEHGS Register, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.
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Published quarterly since 1847, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register is the flagship journal of American genealogy and the oldest journal in the field. The Register has featured articles on a wide variety of topics since its inception, including vital records, church records, tax records, land and probate records, cemetery transcriptions, obituaries, and historical essays. Authoritative compiled genealogies have been the centerpiece of the Register for more than 150 years. Thousands of New England families have been treated in the pages of the journal and many more are referenced in incidental ways throughout. These articles may range from short pieces correcting errors in print or solving unusual problems to larger treatments that reveal family origins or present multiple generations of a family.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Archdiocese of Boston: New searchable records for Brockton, Beverly, and Cambridge

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First page of the Sacred Heart (Brockton) sketch in James S. Sullivan’s One Hundred Years of Progress

Today we have added 13 new volumes and updated 4 more for the Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920. Today’s additions include Sacred Heart in Brockton, St. Alphonsus in Beverly, St. Francis of Assisi and St. John the Evangelist of Cambridge. This update includes 16 volumes, 3,100 pages, and over 78,000 searchable names.

Sacred Heart in Brockton was the second Catholic church in Brockton; it was the French Canadian parish, established in 1891. St. Alphonsus church was established in Beverly in 1914 for the French Canadian population there. Before St. John the Evangelist was established, the Catholics of North Cambridge and West Somerville attended St. Peter’s. In 1893 as their numbers grew, St. John the Evangelist became its own parish.

The new and updated volumes in this release are:
• Sacred Heart (Brockton) Baptisms, 1907-1918
• Sacred Heart (Brockton) Baptisms, 1917-1920
• Sacred Heart (Brockton) Marriages, 1908-1911
• Sacred Heart (Brockton) Marriages, 1911-1920
• St. Alphonsus (Beverly) Baptisms, 1917-1920
• St. Alphonsus (Beverly) Confirmations, 1919-1920
• St. Alphonsus (Beverly) Marriages, 1917-1920
• St. Francis of Assisi (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1917-1920
• St. Francis of Assisi (Cambridge) Confirmations, 1919-1920
• St. Francis of Assisi (Cambridge) Marriages, 1917-1920
• St. John the Evangelist (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1893-1908 (updated)
• St. John the Evangelist (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1908-1914
• St. John the Evangelist (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1914-1920
• St. John the Evangelist (Cambridge) Confirmations, 1893-1918 (updated)
• St. John the Evangelist (Cambridge) Marriages, 1893-1907 (updated)
• St. John the Evangelist (Cambridge) Marriages, 1908-1920

We thank our dedicated volunteer Sam Sturgis for his work on this release. If you would like to become part of the team working on rewarding genealogical projects, please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.


Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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American Ancestors Magazine Volume 21 (2020) Added

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Photograph of a family crest
Cover of the first issue American Ancestors Magazine volume 21.

We have updated our American Ancestors Magazine database to include volume 21 covering the year 2020. This update contains over 280 pages and 2,400 searchable names.

The indexing for these records includes full names, Publication year (not the year of the record), and article titles and authors.

A 64-page magazine published by NEHGS beginning in 2010, American Ancestors contains a wealth of information for family historians. American Ancestors features a wide range of article topics and styles, and is designed to appeal to family historians of all levels. Topics include coverage of a particular region or group of people; case studies; descriptions of particular record sets; “how-to” articles; compelling historic accounts that illuminate the past; research strategies and methodology; and accounts of migration and immigrant groups.The indexing for these records includes full names, Publication year (not the year of the record), and article titles and authors.

The entire run of New England Ancestors is available at our NEHGS Boston research library, call number F1.N49.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider Membership.

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Worcester, MA: Scots-Irish Settlers, 1700-1850 Updated Sketch

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Old Map
1878 Map of the city of Worcester, MA. Public Domain courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Today we are adding a revised sketch in the database Worcester, MA: Scots-Irish Settlers, 1700-1850 for the Blair family. The newly expanded Blair sketch covers the first three generations and containes 28 pages and nearly 1,800 searchable names.

This database is the result of a study project done by Shirley (Robinson) Pizziferri , and it is organized into 21 volumes by family. The database contains 200 pages of family histories and contains over 10,000 searchable names.

Three men by the name of Blair that came to Worcester in 1718: Abraham and his nephews, William, and Robert. Another, John Blair, settled in Londonderry, New Hampshire, the following year. An accurate and thorough, but undocumented, account of the Blair Family in New England was compiled and published in 1900 by a descendant, William Blair Levitt. It was updated in 2008 and is recommended for use by the descendants of the Blair family in conjunction with this sketch. That account was very helpful and will be frequently cited. Nevertheless, consistent with the format of this article, only the first three generations will be covered here, together with the primary sources.t.

This update is made possible by the efforts of our volunteer Charlie Watson. If you have some time and would like to get involved in the database digitization and indexing process please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Archdiocese of Boston: New searchable records for South Boston

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St. Augustine from Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some few places in its vicinity by Isaac Smith Homans

Today we have 13 new and updated volumes for the Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920. Today’s additions include St. Augustine and Saints Peter and Paul, both in South Boston. This update includes 11 volumes, 1,400 pages, and 111,000 searchable names.

St. Augustine’s Chapel in South Boston dates to 1819, built to accompany the purchase of a Catholic cemetery in South Boston. It is the oldest Catholic structure in Massachusetts. Catholics worshiped there until the congregation grew big enough to build another church (Saints Peter and Paul). The old chapel fell out of regular use. By 1868 the Catholic population continued to grow, so that they were again in need of another church. The pastor suggested that the old chapel be used until a new church could be built. The first Mass in the new church was offered in 1871, and they named the new parish in honor of the old chapel.

In 1848 Saints Peter and Paul’s church was almost completely destroyed by fire. The reconstruction took until 1853. On Thanksgiving Day in 1853 the impressive new Goth structure was opened. The grand ceremony had forty priests and the Bishops of Albany and Hartford in attendance of the service led by Bishop Fitzpatrick.

The new volumes are listed below. Volumes with an asterisk (*) have been updated. Previously they were truncated to only display records from before January 1, 1901. Now they are presented on our site either in their complete form or with the records up through December 31, 1920:


• St. Augustine (South Boston) Baptisms, 1899-1912 *
• St. Augustine (South Boston) Baptisms, 1912-1916 (Part 1)
• St. Augustine (South Boston) Baptisms, 1916-1919 (Part 2)
• St. Augustine (South Boston) Baptisms, 1919-1920 (Part 3)
• St. Augustine (South Boston) Confirmations, 1896-1917 *
• St. Augustine (South Boston) Confirmations, 1919-1920
• St. Augustine (South Boston) First Communions, 1919-1920
• St. Augustine (South Boston) Marriages, 1900-1913 *
• St. Augustine (South Boston) Marriages, 1913-1920

• Sts. Peter and Paul (South Boston) Baptisms, 1911-1916
• Sts. Peter and Paul (South Boston) Baptisms, 1917-1920
• Sts. Peter and Paul (South Boston) Confirmations, 1910-1920
• Sts. Peter and Paul (South Boston) Marriages, 1910-1920

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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New Database Watertown, MA: Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery Burials, 1854-1980

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Cemetery Photograph
View of the Priests Lot at Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery. Picture by William A. McEvoy, 2020.

The database Watertown, MA: Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery Burials, 1854-1980 provides two volumes with over 3,300 pages of information about the burials in Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery between 1854 and 1980 and includes over 46,000 searchable records and names.

In 2011, William A. McEvoy met with representatives of the Historical Society of Watertown at the Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown, Massachusetts. Starting with a map of the cemetery and a 310-page notebook of burials, Mr. McEvoy then started a project to record burials in this historic cemetery. The initial goal was simply to post information on FindaGrave.com. By September of 2012, he discovered that the number of burials greatly exceeded initial estimates, and the available sources were incomplete. The project was expanded to include lot sales information and vital records.

The detailed results of this project are captured in the two volumes of this online database. The first volume, titled “Burials” contains all discovered information for each person buried in the cemetery, including birth years and birth places, parent’s names, street addresses at their death, cause of death and the location of the burial plot. The second volume “Civil War and Military” identifies burials for soldiers who served in the Civil War and others. It includes information on their military units and service dates.

Mr. McEvoy has also written a book entitled “Catholic Mount Auburn Cemetery: East Watertown, MA”. The full text of the book is available online in the Digital Library and Archive. Additionally, Mr. McEvoy has created a recording of his book and you can see it as a YouTube Video. The book can be found in the library catalog as F74.W33 M348 2020.

Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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