Author Archive
Image Credit: http://maps.bpl.org [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
These Bristol probate cases were not labeled with official case numbers, so an index had to be created from the microfilmed file papers. The resulting index is mostly alphabetical. However the file papers were not microfilmed in strict alphabetic order and case numbers were assigned as the cases were examined to create this database. Thus, the statement “mostly alphabetical.”
For a time, the borders of Massachusetts and Rhode Island (where Bristol County is located) shifted considerably as the two states swapped parcels of land. Bristol County, MA borders Bristol County, RI. Wikipedia explains this is one of ten instances in which adjacent counties in bordering states share the same name, and the only example in New England. Other examples include Teton County in Idaho which borders Teton County in Wyoming and Kent County in Maryland which lies next to Kent County, Delaware. You can consult History of Bristol County, Massachusetts edited by D. Hamilton Hurd for more details on the border changes in the 1700-1800s between Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
We have added six new sketches to Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. This database focuses on families listed in the 1790 census in historic Berkshire and Hampshire counties, an area which includes parts of modern Franklin and Hampden counties as well. Sketches are submitted by NEHGS researchers and members and edited by Helen Schatvet Ullmann, CG, FASG.
If you are particularly interested in this area of research, you may want to consult one of our newest publications–the 3rd volume of Western Massachusetts Families in 1790!
The following sketches are new to this update:
Martin Chamberlin (Dalton)
Amasa Cranson (Ashfield)
Elisha Mack (Montague) (Elisha Mack may be of special interest to LDS genealogists–he was the brother of the grandfather of Joseph Smith.)
Abner Phillips (Ashfield)
Lemuel Phillips (Ashfield)
Philip Phillips (Ashfield)
John Shattuck (Conway)
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership .
Database Tip: On the transcript page, click the plus sign next to any person’s name. You can download a PDF of the entire sketch rather than having to download each page image separately.
East Portal of the Hoosac Tunnel , Florida, MA, a 4.75 mile railroad tunnel built in the 1850s-1870s.
We’ve updated Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850. Middleborough – V1 and Middleborough – V2 are now searchable by parents’ and spouse’s names. Florida – V1 is new, containing births, marriages and deaths.
The Middleborough records come from Barbara Lambert Merrick and Alicia Crane Williams’s Middleborough, Massachusetts Vital Records, a compilation of transcribed records originally published in the Mayflower Descendant and some later transcriptions for this southeast Massachusetts town.
The Florida, MA records originate in Jay Mack Holbrook’s microform Massachusetts Vital Records: Florida, 1781-1900, which collects a register of early records from this town in western Massachusetts.
We would like to thank all of our volunteers who worked on these two projects!
Map of New York and Vermont from the early 1780s by Louis Brion de la Tour
Early Vermont Settlers to 1784 now has five new sketches, enumerated below. 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).
These five new families came from Windsor, VT, where the Constitution of Vermont was signed in 1777. This constitution created the Republic of Vermont, an independent nation. The Republic of Vermont existed until 1791 when Vermont became part of the United States.
Ebenezer Hoisington (Windsor)
Joab Hoisington (Windsor-Woodstock)
William Smead (Windsor)
William Smead, Jr. (Windsor)
Zephaniah Spicer (Windsor)
Database Tip: If you click “Download PDF” from any record on the search results page, you will have a copy of the entire sketch–you will not have to download each individual page! The “Download PDF” link can also be found on the transcript page.
A topographical map of Hampshire County Massachusetts by Henry Francis Walling (By http://maps.bpl.org [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
Rather than sequential case numbers, the Hampshire County file papers are numbered by file box (1-267) and then folder within the box. The case number naming convention is [box number]-[folder number]:[page number]. For example, the first page of the first folder in box 1 is “1-1:1”.
For more information about this database, please consult our introduction which contains helpful information and examples for understanding and interpreting this collection.
American Ancestors Magazine is NEHGS’s quarterly magazine, containing a wealth of information for family historians. Volume 17 (all issues published in 2016) is now available to be searched on our website. Featured articles include how to choose the right genealogical software, how to research your Irish ancestors, and all about Bill Griffith’s new book The Stranger in My Genes.
Take a look back at these issues to learn more!
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.”
We have two new additions to Massachusetts: (Image Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900.
Saint Joseph’s Parish in Boston served the Irish community in the West End. The following volumes are included in this update:
St. Joseph (Boston, MA) Baptisms, 1862-1876
St. Joseph (Boston, MA) Baptisms, 1877-1879
St. Joseph (Boston, MA) Baptisms, 1879-1882
St. Joseph (Boston, MA) Baptisms, 1882-1884
St. Joseph (Boston, MA) Baptisms, 1884-1889
St. Joseph (Boston, MA) Baptisms, 1889-1895
St. Joseph (Boston, MA) Baptisms, 1895-1900
St. Joseph (Boston, MA) Baptisms, 1900
St. Joseph marriages will be included in a future update.
Saint Theresa of Avila Parish in West Roxbury was established in 1895. The following volumes comprise the pre-1901 records of this parish:
St. Theresa of Avila (West Roxbury, MA) Baptisms, 1896-1900
St. Theresa of Avila (West Roxbury, MA) Marriages, 1896-1900
If you need any help navigating this collection, be sure to watch our video on how to browse!
Minnie L.C. Coleman was a passionate genealogist in the 1930s who transcribed many records from the Surrogate’s Office in Syracuse, NY. Among other work, she abstracted names and dates from wills, compiling seven volumes worth of material that she donated to NEHGS. We hold these typescripts in our manuscript collection and have just updated our database, Onondaga County, NY: Abstracts of Wills, 1795-1883 to be searchable by first and last name, location, record type, year, and parents’ or spouse’s names when available.
Onondaga County is located in central New York on the eastern edge of the Finger Lakes. Many of the towns in this county have names inspired by Greek and Roman antiquity such as Cicero, Pompey, Manlius, Fabius, Lysander, Camillus, Marcellus, and of course, Syracuse.
For those further interested in Onondaga County, we also have Minnie L.C. Coleman’s collection of guardianship records from 1815-1849.
The image above is the General Orrin Hutchinson House, a building on the National Register of Historic Places. Orrin’s father James Hutchinson’s record is found in Volume D.
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership .
Photo by Scott Bauer / Courtesy of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service., via Wikimedia Commons
Connecticut Marriages and Deaths 1790-1833 is our newest updated collection. This database is now searchable by first name, last name, year, location, record type, spouse name, and parents’ names.
Between 1928 and 1933 Rev. John Elliot Bowman compiled typescript volumes of Connecticut death and marriage notices transcribed from area newspapers such as the Norwich Courier, Connecticut Observer (Hartford), Columbian Centinel (Boston), Massachusetts Spy, Hartford Gazette, New Hampshire and Vermont Journal, and other publications.
While most records are from CT, the newspapers compiled in this database collected death notices from 22 countries, many in the Carribean or at sea, reflecting Connecticut’s rich seafaring heritage.
Another common non-Connecticut place of death was Ohio. A pair of Connecticut twins, the Wilcox brothers moved to Ohio and married two sisters. These enterprising twins convinced the people of the town to change its name to Twinsburg and finally died in 1827on the same day of the same illness.
Use this database to learn more about the stories of your ancestors!
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership .