Author Archive

Three new sketches: Western Massachusetts Families in 1790

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Historic house, Conway, MA (Historic American Buildings Survey, Arthur C. Haskell, Photographer. 1935 (a) Ext-General view from Southeast. – Old Joe Herrick House, Poland Road, Conway, Franklin County, MA)

Today we’re announcing three new sketches in Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. The new sketches feature Perez Cook (Granby), Ichabod Hemenway (Williamsburg) and Heman Hitchcock (Conway).

This study project focuses on individuals enumerated in the 1790 census in historic Berkshire and Hampshire counties, also including modern Franklin and Hampden counties.  Sketches for this project are submitted to editor Helen Schatvet Ullmann, CG, FASG by NEHGS members and other interested researchers.  If you are interested in submitting a sketch for Volume 5, please review our project home page.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these updates possible.

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

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Archdiocese of Boston: St. Paul (Hingham) now browsable

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St. Paul’s in Hingham. by Timothy Valentine [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

Today we’ve added four new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from St. Paul in Hingham. This update adds over 300 new pages to browse.

St. Paul began as a mission of the Weymouth churches. In 1877 they became an independent parish also serving the Catholics of Cohasset and Scituate.

We’d like to thank volunteers Eileen McCarthy Angela Napolitano and Bill Wolfendale for their help making this update possible.

If you need help navigating this collection, please consult our how-to video.  The new volumes are listed below:

St. Paul (Hingham) Baptisms, 1876-1900
St. Paul (Hingham) Confirmations, 1888-1900
St. Paul (Hingham) First Communions, 1887-1900
St. Paul (Hingham) Marriages, 1876-1900

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.  Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

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Update to Norfolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1793-1900

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John Adams Birthplace, Adams National Historical Park, Quincy, MA, 2016

We’ve updated Norfolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1793-1900 to include probate file papers from 1877 through mid-1894. This database now contains 30,793 cases and 37,700 searchable names. It comprises 796,527 pages.

This database was created from digital images and index contributed to NEHGS by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. This database is still in progress. When photography of the collection is complete, there will be 35,804 probate cases up to and including 1900.

If you have questions on how to search this database, please watch our video, How to Search Massachusetts Probate File Papers.  The Massachusetts Archives also have a very helpful website that serves as a directory for where you can find which pieces of the probate puzzle available in Massachusetts.

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.

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Archdiocese of Boston: 19 new browsable volumes

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Postcard of Ipswich from the early 1900s [Public domain]

Today we’ve added nineteen new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from six parishes. The new volumes come from Gate of Heaven (South Boston), Sacred Heart (Newton), St. Casimir (Brockton), St. Joseph (Holbrook), St. Joseph (Ipswich), and St. Michael (Hudson). This update adds over 2,900 new pages to browse.

We’d like to thank volunteers Francis Alix, Eileen McCarthy Angela Napolitano, Bill Wolfendale, Ross and Linda Weaver, Kim Bonner, and Kate Rubio for their help making this update possible.

If you need help navigating this collection, please consult our how-to video.  The new volumes are listed below:

Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Baptisms, 1866-1883
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Baptisms, 1884-1898
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Baptisms, 1898-1900
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Baptisms, 1900
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) First Communions and Confirmations, 1873-1900
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Marriages, 1885-1900

Sacred Heart (Newton) Marriages, 1890-1900

St. Casimir (Brockton) Baptisms, 1900
St. Casimir (Brockton) Deaths, 1900
St. Casimir (Brockton) Marriages, 1900

St. Joseph (Holbrook) Baptisms, 1887-1900
St. Joseph (Holbrook) Confirmations, 1890-1900
St. Joseph (Holbrook) Marriages, 1887-1900

St. Joseph (Ipswich) Baptisms, 1889-1900
St. Joseph (Ipswich) First Communions and Confirmations, 1896-1900

St. Michael (Hudson) Index to Baptisms, 1875-1900
St. Michael (Hudson) Baptisms, 1875-1897
St. Michael (Hudson) Baptisms, 1898-1900
St. Michael (Hudson) Marriages, 1876-1900

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.  Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

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Two new sketches: Western Massachusetts Families in 1790

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Map detail showing Belchertown on an 1856 map of Hampshire County by http://maps.bpl.org [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Today we’re announcing two new sketches in Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. The new sketches this week focus on Justus Forward from Belchertown and Peter Train of Whately.

Reverend Justus Forward was born in 1730. He married Violet Dickenson; the couple had eleven children. He died in 1814. Peter Train was born in 1724/5 in Whately and married Sarah Cowles. They had ten children. He died in 1793.

This study project focuses on individual enumerated in the 1790 census in historic Berkshire and Hampshire counties, also including modern Franklin and Hampden counties.  Sketches for this project are submitted to editor Helen Schatvet Ullmann, CG, FASG by NEHGS members and other interested researchers.  If you are interested in submitting a sketch for Volume 5, please review our project home page.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these updates possible.

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

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Archdiocese of Boston: St. Patrick (Lawrence) now browsable

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Inside St. Patrick (Lawrence) from One Hundred Years of Progress, p.388

Today we’ve added three new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from St. Patrick in Lawrence. This update adds over 600 new pages to browse.

St. Patrick’s is the Catholic church in South Lawrence. The parish began in 1869 under the auspices of Immaculate Conception. In 1872, St. Patrick became an independent parish also encompassing St. Michael’s in North Andover.

We’d like to thank volunteers Francis Alix, Eileen McCarthy and Angela Napolitano for their help making this update possible.

If you need help navigating this collection, please consult our how-to video.  The new volumes are listed below:

St. Patrick (Lawrence) Baptisms, 1872-1900
St. Patrick (Lawrence) Confirmations, 1894-1900
St. Patrick (Lawrence) Marriages, 1872-1900

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.  Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

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Archdiocese of Boston: St. Peter (Dorchester) now browsable

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Excerpt from a 1896 Sampson and Murdock Map of Boston centering on Dorchester, oriented West-East rather than North-South

Today we’ve added six new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from St. Peter in Dorchester. This update adds over 460 new pages to browse.

St. Peter (Dorchester) began in 1872 as an offshoot of St. Gregory in Dorchester. In James Sullivan’s One hundred years of progress, Joseph Byrne enthusiastically describes the appearance of the church which was dedicated in 1884, “No technical description can do more than faintly suggest the grandeur of St. Peter’s church which is a poem of architectural beauty” (175). The Dorchester Athenaeum’s history of the church has a very helpful paragraph (the sixth on the page) that explains the evolution of the Catholic parishes in Dorchester.

We’d like to thank the following scanners for their help making this update possible: Francis Alix, Eileen McCarthy, Angela Napolitano and John Phlo. Volunteer Linda Weaver did vital image-merging work on five of the six volumes.

If you need help navigating this collection, please consult our how-to video.  The new volumes are listed below:

St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1872-1887
St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1887-1895
St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1895-1900
St. Peter (Dorchester) Confirmations, 1882-1900
St. Peter (Dorchester) Marriages, 1872-1897
St. Peter (Dorchester) Marriages, 1897-1900

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.  Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

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Archdiocese of Boston: St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) now browsable

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Image from The Sacred Heart Review Vol. 5 #14, 2/28/1891

Today we’ve added six new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence). This update adds over 440 new pages to browse.

St. Lawrence O’Toole in Lawrence was set off from Immaculate Conception and St. Mary in 1873. St. Lawrence O’Toole, the saint for whom the church was named was the Archbishop of Dublin in the 1100s.

We’d like to thank the following volunteers for their help scanning these volumes: Bill Wolfendale, Eileen McCarthy and Angela Napolitano.

If you need help navigating this collection, please consult our how-to video.  The new volumes are listed below:

St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Baptisms, 1875-1887
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Baptisms, 1898-1900
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Confirmations, 1882-1897
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) First Communions, 1899
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Marriages, 1883-1887
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Marriages, 1898-1900

Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.  Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

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Archdiocese of Boston: St. Peter (Cambridge) now searchable

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Excerpt from a 1854 map of Cambridge by Henry Francis Walling showing the vicinity of St. Peter by http://maps.bpl.org [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Today we’ve added ten new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from St. Peter in Cambridge. This update adds 28,628 records and 116,849 names to search.

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.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making this parish available on our site.  The new volumes are listed below:

St. Peter (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1842-1862
St. Peter (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1862-1869
St. Peter (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1869-1871
St. Peter (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1872-1877
St. Peter (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1877-1890
St. Peter (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1890-1900
St. Peter (Cambridge) Marriages, 1843-1866
St. Peter (Cambridge) Marriages, 1866-1871
St. Peter (Cambridge) Marriages, 1872-1892
St. Peter (Cambridge) Marriages, 1893-1900

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

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New sketches in Western Massachusetts Families in 1790

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View of the Connecticut River and the Pioneer Valley looking East South East from Mt Sugarloaf in South Deerfield MA by Tom Walsh Tom Walsh [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]

Today we’re announcing two new sketches in Western Massachusetts Families in 1790.  These new sketches focus on Justus Dwight from Belchertown and Obed Hawks from Deerfield.

Justus Dwight was born in 1739 and died in 1824. He married Sarah Lamb. Together the couple had eight children. Obed Hawks was born in 1750 and lived until 1816. He married Abigail Smith and they had four children.

This study project focuses on individual enumerated in the 1790 census in historic Berkshire and Hampshire counties, also including modern Franklin and Hampden counties.  Sketches for this project are submitted to editor Helen Schatvet Ullmann, CG, FASG by NEHGS members and other interested researchers.  If you are interested in submitting a sketch for Volume 5, please review our project home page.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these updates possible.

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

Read more »