Author Archive

Early New England Families, 1641-1700: 1 new sketch

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Postcard from Fairfield, Connecticut (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Today we’ve updated Early New England Families, 1641-1700adding one new sketch. This new sketch features George Squire m. 1642. George and his family lived in Concord, MA and Fairfield, CT. His wife’s name was Ann, and they had six children.

The Early New England Families, 1641-1700 study project is led by Alicia Crane Williams. This project highlights heads of families mentioned in Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700, focusing on individuals who immigrated from 1641 through 1700, grouped by year of marriage. Barry E. Hinman collaborated with Alicia Crane Williams to produce this sketch.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help adding these sketches to our database.

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

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New volumes: Boston, MA: Provident Institution for Savings, 1817-1882

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Detail from the front matter of One Hundred Years of Savings Bank Service

Today we’ve added three new volumes to Boston, MA: Provident Institution for Savings, 1817-1882.

The new volumes are:
Waste Book 1A, 1817-1820
Waste Book 1B, 1820
Waste Book 1E, 1822-1824

The Provident Institution for Savings in the Town of Boston was one of the first savings bank to be incorporated in the United States. About 80% of the individuals represented in the early records of this bank were immigrants to Boston. The Waste Books provide lists of daily transactions that happened at the bank–often one person is depositing money in benefit of another person. Residence locations are provided (usually a town), and occupations are often recorded.

If you are interested in the subject of bank records in general, be sure to watch genealogist Eileen Pironti’s webinar, Using Bank Records in Family History Research.

This database is still a work in progress. When complete, the database will contain 6 signature books and 6 “waste” (transaction) books. One signature book and four waste books are currently available.

This database is possible through our partnership with the Boston Athenaeum. The Boston Athenaeum holds the original record books and performed the digitization of all the images. The full collection at the Boston Athenaeum is Provident Institution for Savings in the Town of Boston Records.

We’d like to thank volunteers and interns Paul McCool, Amanda Opalenik, Katherine Pozgay, Annie Tucker and Kennedy Smith for their work on this update.

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

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Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784: 2 new sketches

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Brattleboro, VT (Scan by NYPL, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Today we’ve added 2 new sketches to Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The two new sketches feature Isaac McCune who married Lydia Chandler and William McCune, Isaac’s father who married Elizabeth Whitney. Both families lived in Brattleboro.

We’ve also updated two existing sketches:
Butterfield, Benjamin (Brattleboro)
Willard, Nathan (Fort Dummer)

With this study project, Scott Andrew Bartley researches heads of families who lived in Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War.  These sketches illustrate major players on political and religious fronts, uncover the migration patterns for this period in the region, and identify all those just looking to better their lives on the new frontier.  This project is proceeding in two series, settlers to 1771 and 1772-1784.  The work so far has been geographical, focusing on Windsor and Windham Counties.

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

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Archdiocese of Boston: new records from Haverhill and Lowell

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Excerpt from a 1910 print of the Haverhill waterfront (Smith Bros. Printing Co., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Today we’ve added seven new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. James in Haverhill and St. Margaret of Scotland in Lowell. This update adds over 26,500 records and over 76,400 names to search.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online.

The new volumes are listed below:
St. James (Haverhill) Baptisms, 1908-1914
St. James (Haverhill) Baptisms, 1914-1920
St. James (Haverhill) First Communions, 1910-1920
St. James (Haverhill) Marriages, 1908-1920

St. Margaret of Scotland (Lowell) Baptisms, 1910-1920
St. Margaret of Scotland (Lowell) Confirmations, 1912-1920
St. Margaret of Scotland (Lowell) Marriages, 1911-1920

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

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New sketches: New England study projects

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Whetstone Falls, Brattleboro, VT (Detroit Publishing Company, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Today we’ve added 4 new sketches to two of our study projects!

We’ve added 2 new sketches to Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. The two new sketches feature Benjamin Butterfield and Benjamin Butterfield, Jr. of Brattleboro.

With this study project, Scott Andrew Bartley researches heads of families who lived in Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War.  These sketches illustrate major players on political and religious fronts, uncover the migration patterns for this period in the region, and identify all those just looking to better their lives on the new frontier.  This project is proceeding in two series, settlers to 1771 and 1772-1784.  The work so far has been geographical, focusing on Windsor and Windham Counties.

We’re also announcing two new sketches in Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. The new sketches focus on Ebenezer Payne and Stephen Payne, both of Partridgefield (Peru), MA. The current town of Peru was originally incorporated as Partridgefield. You can read more about the changing borders of this town in our database Massachusetts: Historical Data Relating to Cities and Towns.

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.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his work on the Western Massachusetts Families update.

Please note: These databases are available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Early Vermont Settlers: new sketches

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Shady Lane by Sharyn Finnegan (Finnart46, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Today we’ve added four new sketches to Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784, highlighting families who lived in Brattleboro. The new sketches are listed below:

Arms, Josiah (Brattleboro)
Atchison, Joel (Brattleboro)
Ball, Jacob (Brattleboro)
Ball, Shadrach (Brattleboro)

We’ve also updated two sketches: Arms, John (Fort Dummer) and Clay, James (Putney).

With this study project, Scott Andrew Bartley researches heads of families who lived in Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War.  These sketches illustrate major players on political and religious fronts, uncover the migration patterns for this period in the region, and identify all those just looking to better their lives on the new frontier.  This project is proceeding in two series, settlers to 1771 and 1772-1784.  The work so far has been geographical, focusing on Windsor and Windham Counties.

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

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Archdiocese of Boston: St. Rose of Lima in Chelsea now searchable

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Detail from “City of Chelsea with the location of its churches, schools and principal industries”, 1892. St. Rose is located to the right of the red star. (http://maps.bpl.org, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Today we’ve added seven new volumes and updated two volumes in Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. Rose of Lima in Chelsea. This update adds over 16,900 records and over 67,200 names to search.

St. Rose of Lima was the first Catholic church established in Chelsea; the church building was dedicated in 1865. 

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making this parish available online.

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 in their complete form:

St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Baptisms, 1897-1902*
St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Baptisms, 1902-1906
St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Baptisms, 1906-1912
St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Baptisms, 1912-1916
St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Baptisms, 1916-1920
St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Confirmations, 1908-1920
St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Convert Baptisms, 1910-1920
St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Marriages, 1888-1912*
St. Rose of Lima (Chelsea) Marriages, 1913-1920

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

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Three updated New England databases

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Bath Road Cliff, Newport [Rhode Island] (1889) Edward Mitchell Bannister, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Today we’ve updated three databases that focus on three different towns throughout New England: Hinsdale, MA; Newport, RI and Nottingham West also known as Hudson, NH. These databases, based on manuscripts from the R. Stanton Avery Special Collections are now searchable by first name and last name, location, record type, date, and family members (where available). The page images from the original manuscripts were also added to these revamped databases.

These three updates are part of an on-going project to update some of our older databases that were formerly not indexed in as much detail on our website.

The updated databases include:

Hinsdale, MA: Records of the Congregational Church, 1797-1848
Newport, RI: Members of the Artillery Company of Newport, 1741-1854
Nottingham West (Hudson), NH: Records of First Church of Christ, 1737-1795

We’d like to thank the following volunteers for their work to make these updates possible: Tate Lehmann, Linda Weaver, Ida Nystrom, Margaret Parker and Nancy Borman.

Marker for the Militia Common, dedicated by the Artillery Company of Newport (image by Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Please note: These databases are available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

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Archdiocese of Boston: new searchable records from Billerica, Cambridge and Hopkinton

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Interior of St. Paul’s in Cambridge (Yuhan Zhang, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Today we’ve added 14 new volumes and updated three volumes in Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. Andrew (Billerica), St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge), St. Paul (Cambridge) and St. John the Evangelist (Hopkinton). This update adds over 33,400 records and over 120,000 names to search.

We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online.

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 to December 31, 1920:

St. Andrew (Billerica) Baptisms and Marriages, 1868-1904
St. Andrew (Billerica) Baptisms and Marriages, 1904-1914
St. Andrew (Billerica) Confirmations, 1868-1899

St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1910-1920
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Confirmations, 1903-1908
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Confirmations, 1917-1920
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Marriages, 1902-1908
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Marriages, 1908-1917
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Marriages, 1917-1920

St. Paul (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1875-1908*
St. Paul (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1908-1918
St. Paul (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1918-1920
St. Paul (Cambridge) Confirmations, 1875-1920*
St. Paul (Cambridge) Marriages, 1875-1908*
St. Paul (Cambridge) Marriages, 1908-1920

St. John the Evangelist (Hopkinton) Baptisms, 1908-1920
St. John the Evangelist (Hopkinton) Marriages, 1908-1920

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

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Archdiocese of Boston: Sacred Heart in Boston’s North End now fully searchable

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North Square in the North End (by ButteBag, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Today we’ve added seven new volumes and updated one volume in  Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from Sacred Heart in Boston. This update adds over 27,100 records and over 121,800 names to search.

Usually we add all the records of a single parish at once. Most parishes contain less than 10 volumes for the 20 year time period we’re currently working on (1901-1920). However, Sacred Heart in Boston’s North End consists of 37 volumes. So in this special case, I uploaded this parish in pieces over a series of weeks. This week I’ve added the final 7 new volumes (joining the thirty other recently added new volumes). So this parish is now complete–all the information we scanned is now available for search!

The new volumes are listed below. The starred volume was updated, adding the records from 1900-1902:

Sacred Heart (Boston) Marriages, 1899-1902*
Sacred Heart (Boston) Marriages, 1902-1905
Sacred Heart (Boston) Marriages, 1905-1908
Sacred Heart (Boston) Marriages, 1908-1911
Sacred Heart (Boston) Marriages, 1911-1913
Sacred Heart (Boston) Marriages, 1913-1916
Sacred Heart (Boston) Marriages, 1916-1918
Sacred Heart (Boston) Marriages, 1918-1920

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

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