Author Archive

Transcription Challenge #6 Results

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Thank you to everyone who participated in Transcription Challenge last week.  We had over 60 responses!  This week we have more mystery names to decipher from Sacred Heart (Boston), Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge), and St. Joseph (Boston) parishes, including one special challenge from Sacred Heart of Jesus in Cambridge!  Visit our Transcription Challenge page to offer a suggestion.

Here are the chosen transcriptions from last week’s challenge:

#1. Boudrot, Boudreau

#2. Kelsey

#3. Gratia

#4. Harriet

#5. Ebenisam, Eben

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New browsable Catholic records

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By John Phelan (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

We’re announcing an update to Massachusetts: (Image Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900.  The new records come from the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Cambridge (12 volumes) and St. Mary’s in Waltham (8 volumes).   Sacred Heart of Jesus was the first Catholic church in Cambridge, originally known as St. John’s.  Catholics from Waltham, Watertown, Newton, Lexington, and Concord gathered to worship in Waltham as early as 1830, ministered to by mission priests from Boston.

The following volumes comprise this update:

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1842-1856

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1857-1871

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1871-1874

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1874-1878

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1878-1885

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1885-1891

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1891-1895

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1895-1899

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Marriages, 1842-1873

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Marriages, 1874-1897

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Sick Calls, 1884-1900

Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cambridge) Sick Calls, 1900

St. Mary (Waltham) Baptisms, 1852-1855

St. Mary (Waltham) Baptisms, 1864-1889

St. Mary (Waltham) Baptisms, 1889-1896

St. Mary (Waltham) Baptisms, 1896-1900

St. Mary (Waltham) Confirmations, 1877-1891

St. Mary (Waltham) Marriages, 1850-1855

St. Mary (Waltham) Marriages, 1864-1890

St. Mary (Waltham) Marriages, 1891-1900 

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Transcription Challenge #5 Results

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Thank you to everyone who participated in Transcription Challenge last week.  We had over 80 responses!  This week we have 5 more mystery names to decipher from Holy Cross and St. Joseph (Boston) parishes and we would love your help.  Visit our Transcription Challenge page to offer a suggestion.

Here are the chosen transcriptions from last week’s challenge:

#1. McCrea

#2. Anna

#3. Moore

#4. Blacco, Placco

#5. Stinson

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St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms Now Searchable

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Detail of St. Joseph from Robert Campin’s The Nativity Image Credit: Robert Campin [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 has a new update–8 volumes of baptisms from St. Joseph’s parish in Boston’s West End.  Thanks to our wonderful volunteers, these volumes are now part of our searchable database!  This update consists of the following volumes:

St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms, 1862-1876

St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms, 1877-1879

St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms, 1879-1882

St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms, 1882-1884

St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms, 1884-1889

St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms, 1889-1895

St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms, 1895-1900

St. Joseph (Boston) Baptisms, 1900

If you have found any interesting stories or important information about your ancestors within the Archdiocese of Boston records, we would love to hear from you!  Please email me (Molly Rogers) at webmaster@nehgs.org.

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

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Transcription Challenge #4 Results

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Thank you to everyone who participated in Transcription Challenge last week.  We had over 60 responses!  This week we have 5 more mystery names to decipher and we would love your help.  Visit our Transcription Challenge page to offer a suggestion.

Here are the chosen transcriptions from last week’s challenge:

  1. Edward Coyle
  2. Edwd., Edward Foley
  3. Hannah and John Lyod, Lloyd
  4. James and James Killmartin, Kilmartin
  5. Alice and Arthur Timmons
  6. Gul., Gulielmus, William O’Brien and Mar. A., Mary A. Reynolds
  7. Gul. T., Gulielmus T., William T. Horrigan and Marg., Margaret O’Mara
  8. Gabel F. Bryant

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Cathedral of the Holy Cross Records Now Searchable

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Image Credit: Stefan14776 (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

The records from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross are now available in Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900.  This update includes over 555,000 names searchable by first name, last name, parents’ names, spouses’ names, witnesses’ names, record type, year, and location.

We want to extend our vast gratitude to our volunteers who helped make this update possible–they have contributed hundreds of hours scanning the books, reading the pages, and proofreading spreadsheets.  We could not have done this without their help!

This update consists of the following volumes:

Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms & Marriages V.1, 1789-1810
Holy Cross (Boston) Various V.2, 1810-1823
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.3, 1823-1830
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.4, 1831-1838
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.5, 1838-1844
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.6, 1844-1850
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.9, 1850-1853
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.10, 1853-1858
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.11, 1858-1868
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.12, 1868-1876
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.13, 1876-1888
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.14, 1889-1900
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.15, 1900-1900
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages V.7, 1823-1844
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages V.8, 1844-1856
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages V.9, 1856-1876
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages V.10, 1876-1897
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages V.11, 1897-1900
Holy Cross Confirmations, 1864-1876
Holy Cross Confirmations, 1877-1895
Holy Cross Confirmations, 1895-1906

If you have found any interesting stories or important information about your ancestors within the Archdiocese of Boston records, we would love to hear from you!  Please email me (Molly Rogers) at webmaster@nehgs.org.

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

Read more »

Transcription Challenge #3 Results

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Thank you to everyone who participated in Transcription Challenge last week.  We had over 150 responses!  This week we have 8 more mystery names to decipher and we would love your help!  Visit our Transcription Challenge page to offer a suggestion.

Here are the chosen transcriptions from last week’s challenge:

  1. Kezia M. Ahern
  2. Timothy O’Driscoll
  3. Stephen Donovan
  4. Lenor, Serah Donovan
  5. Law., Lawrence Traynor
  6. Annie O’Toole
  7. James Keane
  8. Mary Gabily, Cahill

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Two new and two revised sketches in Early New England Families, 1641-1700

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Image Credit: Daderot (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Today we have two new sketches by Alicia Crane Williams: John Hollister of Wethersfield, CT (m. 1639, Joan/Joanna Treat); and Thomas Nichols of Hingham, MA, (m. 1638, Rebecca Joslin; m. 1681, Dorcas ___.)

Also, Alicia has revised the sketches of Joseph Andrews of Hingham., MA (m. 1621, w. unknown, m. 1632, Elizabeth ___); and Samuel Jenney of Plymouth, MA, Portsmouth, RI and Dartmouth, MA (m. 1646, Susannah Wood, m. 1654, Anne/Anna Lettice)

Click here to download a complete pdf list of all Early New England Families sketches with links to each sketch.

Click here to visit our bookstore to purchase a print compilation of the first 50 sketches in the series.

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Early Vermont Settlers to 1784: 5 Windsor County sketches

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Image Credit: Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), creator (Daderot) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

We have 5 new sketches for Early Vermont Settlers to 1784.  This database focuses on families that lived in Vermont prior to the end of the Revolutionary War, as identified in Donald Alan Smith’s thesis “Legacy of Dissent: Religion and Politics in Revolutionary Vermont 1749 to 1784” (Clark U., Ph.D., 1980).

As NEHGS prepares to publish Scott Andrew Bartley’s first volume of these sketches, we welcome any corrections, especially regarding the children of the principal subjects of the sketches.  Send any potential revisions to webmaster@nehgs.org for review.

The latest new sketches are listed below:

John Amos (Windsor)

Andrew Blunt (Windsor)

Christopher Brackett (Weathersfield)

Thomas Cooper (Windsor)

Ebenezer Curtis (Windsor)

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St. Mary (Charlestown) Browsable Catholic Records

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We have a new addition to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900: the records from St. Mary in Charlestown.  St. Mary’s was the first parish established as a separate parish from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, in 1828.   The Boston Public Library has a Charlestown Flickr page with images of St. Mary’s interior, repairs to the roof, and a fire that happened in the building–scroll about three quarters of the way down the page to view these images.

This addition consists of 10 new volumes:

St. Mary (Charlestown) Baptisms 1829-1855

St. Mary (Charlestown) Baptisms 1856-1868

St. Mary (Charlestown) Baptisms 1869-1887

St. Mary (Charlestown) Baptisms 1887-1894

St. Mary (Charlestown) Baptisms 1894-1897

St. Mary (Charlestown) Baptisms 1897-1900

St. Mary (Charlestown) Deaths and Burials 1823-1831

St. Mary (Charlestown) Deaths and Burials 1830-1836

St. Mary (Charlestown) Marriages 1830-1868

St. Mary (Charlestown) Marriages 1869-1900

 

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