Archive For The “Uncategorized” Category
Today we’ve added six new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. Mary in Foxborough and St. Mary in Georgetown. This update adds over 6,400 records and over 24,000 names to search.
St. Mary’s in Foxborough became an independent parish in 1880. Prior to this date, various priests from a few different parishes would come to say mass in this area. They had a church in this town as early as 1859.
In 1873 the church of St. Mary’s in Georgetown was dedicated. For some time, it was a mission of the church in Haverhill. As the Catholic population in this area grew, St. Patrick’s in Groveland began as a mission of this parish.
We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online.
The new volumes are listed below:
St. Mary (Foxborough) Baptisms and Marriages, 1880-1901
St. Mary (Foxborough) Baptisms, 1896-1901
St. Mary (Georgetown) Baptisms and Marriages, 1874-1890
St. Mary (Georgetown) Baptisms and Marriages, 1874-1890 (copy)
St. Mary (Georgetown) Baptisms and Marriages, 1891-1898
St. Mary (Georgetown) Various, 1898-1916
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’ve added eight new sketches to Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784, highlighting families who lived at Fort Dummer. The new sketches include Major John Arms, Valentine Butler, Joseph Kellogg, Col. Josiah Willard, Col. Josiah Willard, Jr., Nathan Willard, Wilder Willard, and William Willard. We’ve also added “Fort Dummer Soldiers“, a document containing shorter notes regarding the lives of soldiers who served at Fort Dummer (but did not become residents of Vermont). See the first page of “Fort Dummer Soldiers” for more information on who is included and why. Scholars of this region and time period should also consult Scott Andrew Bartley’s article, “The Connecticut River Valley Before Settlement and the Soldiers of Fort Dummer,” in Vermont Genealogy, (24 [2019]: 135-162).
Scott Andrew Bartley’s study project tracks heads of families who lived in Vermont prior to the Revolutionary War. His sketches so far have focused on Windham and Windsor counties.
The latest cluster of sketches focus on families who lived in Fort Dummer, the precursor to Brattleboro, Vermont. Fort Dummer was established during Dummer’s War, a series of conflicts between settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Native Americans. The main conflict of Dummer’s War centered around boundaries–what belonged to the American colonists? What land belonged to the Native Americans? What land belonged to the British? These conflicts took place from 1722-1725 along the Kennebec River in Maine, in Nova Scotia, and in western Massachusetts. Brattleboro was established in 1753 as part of the New Hampshire land grants (when both New Hampshire and New York laid claim to the present state of Vermont).
Steel Smith‘s sketch (from Windsor) was also updated.
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’ve added ten new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. Joseph in Amesbury and St. Patrick in Watertown. This update adds over 35,400 records and over 125,100 names to search.
The first iteration of St. Joseph’s church in Amesbury was dedicated in 1866. Ten years later, the church was already ready to expand, and a second, new church was dedicated in 1876. Many French Canadians attended this parish.
Early Catholics in Watertown may have attended a mission church in Waltham before organizing to form their own parish. St. Patrick’s church was completed in 1848. See James S. Sullivan’s 100 Years of Progress for more information on the changing boundaries of this parish.
We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online.
The new volumes are listed below:
St. Joseph (Amesbury) Baptisms, 1867-1887
St. Joseph (Amesbury) Baptisms, 1887-1900
St. Joseph (Amesbury) Confirmations, 1867-1894
St. Joseph (Amesbury) Confirmations, 1883-1920
St. Joseph (Amesbury) First Communions, 1895-1920
St. Patrick (Watertown) Baptisms, 1855-1877
St. Patrick (Watertown) Baptisms, 1877-1895
St. Patrick (Watertown) Baptisms, 1896-1919
St. Patrick (Watertown) Marriages, 1855-1895
St. Patrick (Watertown) Marriages, 1896-1908
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’ve added fifteen new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from Holy Cross in Boston and Our Lady of the Presentation in Brighton. We’ve also updated five volumes from Holy Cross in Boston. This update adds over 2,200 new pages to browse.
Learn more about the current status of this project in our new webinar, Archdiocese of Boston Catholic Records Project: We’re Expanding!. Make sure you are logged in to our site to view the archived webinars, available to watch for free! This webinar happened on February 20, 2020 (so you can find it easily in the list).
The Church of the Holy Cross was established in Boston in 1788; as the Catholic population grew in the city, it become the Cathedral. In 1800, the first Cathedral was built on Franklin Street in the South End. By 1866, a new, larger building was needed, so construction began on the current church on Washington Street. Since, the Cathedral has continued to be a center of Catholicism in New England.
Our Lady of the Presentation was established in 1909 in the Oak Square neighborhood of Brighton. Construction on a church building began in 1913 and the church was dedicated in 1921.
We’d like to thank volunteers Kim Bonner, Eileen McCarthy, Katie McCarver, Angela Napolitano, Ross Weaver 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:
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.16, 1908-1910
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.17, 1910-1920
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms, 1920
Holy Cross (Boston) Confirmations, 1907-1916
Holy Cross (Boston) Confirmations, 1917-1920
Holy Cross (Boston) Convert Confirmations, 1916-1920
Holy Cross (Boston) Convert Confirmations, 1920
Holy Cross (Boston) Index to Baptisms, 1911-1915
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages, 1906-1908
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages, 1908-1911
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages, 1911-1917
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages, 1918-1920
Our Lady of the Presentation (Brighton) Baptisms, 1909-1920
Our Lady of the Presentation (Brighton) Confirmations, 1915-1920
Our Lady of the Presentation (Brighton) Marriages, 1910-1920
The following volumes 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:
Holy Cross (Boston) Baptisms V.15, 1900-1908
Holy Cross (Boston) Marriages V.11, 1897-1905
Holy Cross (Boston) Confirmations, 1895-1906
Holy Cross (Boston) Index to Baptisms, 1852-1910
Holy Cross (Boston) Index to Marriages, 1850-1905
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members. Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).
Today we’ve updated Early New England Families, 1641-1700, adding two new sketches featuring John Sawin (m. 1641, 1651) and Daniel Smith, both of Watertown.
Early New England Families, 1641-1700 is written by Alicia Crane Williams. This study project highlights heads of families mentioned in Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700. Learn more about this project, through one of Alicia Crane Williams’ most recent Vita Brevis posts on the subject.
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.
Today we’ve added eight new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. Agnes in Arlington and St. Edward in Brockton. This update adds over 16,100 records and over 61,900 names to search.
Prior to the establishment of St. Malachi (or Malachy) in Arlington in 1872, Arlington Catholics had to travel to St. Peter’s in Cambridge. When the parish began, it also included territory in Belmont and Lexington (which later became their own parishes). In 1900, St. Malachi’s was renamed to honor St. Agnes.
Lord, Sexton, and Harrington describe St. Edward’s in Brockton: “At St. Edward’s, Montello (in the northern part of Brockton), the original temporary wooden church was replaced by a new one erected by Fathers Edwin J. Dolan…and Thomas F. Brannan…His Eminence blessed the cornerstone on October 11, 1914” (History of the Archdiocese of Boston in the Various Stages of Its Development 1604-1943, 718).
We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online.
The new volumes are listed below:
St. Agnes (Arlington) Baptisms, 1873-1884
St. Agnes (Arlington) Baptisms, 1884-1894
St. Agnes (Arlington) Baptisms, 1894-1902
St. Agnes (Arlington) Marriages, 1873-1899
St. Agnes (Arlington) Marriages, 1898-1920
St. Edward (Brockton) Baptisms, 1897-1913
St. Edward (Brockton) Confirmations, 1898-1920
St. Edward (Brockton) Marriages 1897-1917
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we are excited to announce an expansion of the Suffolk County, MA Probate File Papers database. This addition includes case numbers 33068-35451, for the years 1842-1847, and it adds over 54,000 new file paper pages. The complete database now contains 496,000 file papers and 36,000 searchable names.
This database was created from digital images and index contributed to NEHGS by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. The probate cases include wills, guardianships, administrations, and various other types of probate records. We’d like to thank our wonderful volunteers Sam Sturgis and Bruce Shaw, without whom this update would not have happened.
The complete Suffolk County File Papers collection will eventually cover cases 1-94,757, which includes years up to 1893. The cases are indexed chronologically, which allows us to present them in sections while digital photography is taking place. The digital photography is expected to continue through 2020. We will continue to add additional cases as they become available.
If you have questions on how to search this database, or about our collaboration with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, 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 as to where you can find which pieces of probate information.
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members.
Today we’ve added twelve new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 and updated eight volumes from five parishes across the current city of Boston. This update adds over 2,500 new pages to browse. The new and updated parishes include Our Lady of Ostrobrama in Boston’s West End, Our Lady of Victories (Boston), St. Cecilia in Boston’s Back Bay, St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) and St. Gabriel in Brighton.
Our Lady of Ostrobrama was established in 1916. Parishioners first worshiped at St. Stephen in the North End before buying a church of their own in Boston’s West End. It was a mission of St. Joseph’s church before eventually becoming an independent parish.
Our Lady of Victories was Boston’s first French Canadian parish, established in 1880, and also know as Notre Dame des Victoires. In History of the Archdiocese of Boston in the Various Stages of Its Development 1604-1943, Lord Sexton, and Harrington relate, “By the end of the [Archbishop] Williams era [i.e. 1907], Notre Dame des Victoires was serving twenty thousand French-speaking people, scattered throughout Greater Boston” (Volume 3, 212).
St. Cecilia was established in 1888 in Back Bay. Many of the congregants were Irish immigrants who worked as servants for the wealthy Protestant families who lived in that neighborhood.
St. Francis de Sales was the second Catholic church established in Charlestown (after St. Mary’s). Situated on Bunker Hill, it was dedicated in 1862.
In 1908, the Passionist Fathers established a monastery in Brighton. The monastery evolved to include a parish church called St. Gabriel’s which became an independent parish in 1934.
We’d like to thank volunteers Kim Bonner, Eileen McCarthy, Katie McCarver, Katie McNally, Linda Weaver, Ross Weaver 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:
Our Lady of Ostrobrama (Boston) Baptisms and Marriages, 1916-1920
- Link to Baptism Index
- Link to Marriage Index
Our Lady of Ostrobrama (Boston) Baptisms, 1920
St. Cecilia (Boston) Baptisms, 1919-1920
St. Cecilia (Boston) Confirmations, 1901-1920
St. Cecilia (Boston) Marriages, 1911-1919
St. Cecilia (Boston) Marriages, 1919-1920
St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) Baptisms, 1908-1920
St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) Marriages, 1908-1920
St. Gabriel (Brighton) Baptisms, 1912-1920
The following volumes have been updated. Previously they were truncated to only display records from before January 1, 1901. Now they are presented on our site through January 1, 1921:
Our Lady of Victories (Boston) Baptisms, 1898-1905
Our Lady of Victories (Boston) Deaths, 1889-1920
Our Lady of Victories (Boston) Marriages, 1899-1911
Our Lady of Victories (Boston) Various, 1880-1920
St. Cecilia (Boston) Baptisms, 1889-1919
St. Cecilia (Boston) Marriages, 1888-1911
St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) Baptisms, 1893-1908
St. Francis de Sales (Charlestown) Marriages, 1862-1908
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members. Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).
Today we’ve added six new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from Our Lady of Pompeii in Boston’s South End. This update adds over 1,800 new pages to browse.
Boston College’s Global Boston project describes Our Lady of Pompeii: “Moving out from the North End, many immigrants from southern Italy lived in the New York Streets and worshipped at Our Lady of Pompeii on Florence Street, founded in 1902.” The New York Streets were one of Boston’s first areas targeted for urban “renewal”–most of the neighborhood was razed in the 1950s.
We’d like to thank volunteers Eileen McCarthy, Katie McNally, Angela Napolitano, Ross Weaver 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:
Our Lady of Pompeii (Boston) Baptisms, 1903-1911
Our Lady of Pompeii (Boston) Baptisms, 1912-1914
Our Lady of Pompeii (Boston) Baptisms, 1914-1918
Our Lady of Pompeii (Boston) Baptisms, 1918-1920
Our Lady of Pompeii (Boston) Confirmations, 1909-1920
Our Lady of Pompeii (Boston) Marriages, 1903-1920
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members. Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).
We have released an update to the search user experience that makes hints available to online users of search. Until now, hints from American Ancestors databases were only available to users of American AncesTREES. Now they are available to everyone.
You can see an example of hints on the image above. Here we have the Record Display page for the birth of Nathan Snow in 1725 from the Massachusetts Vital Records, 1620-1850 database. On the right side you can see the heading “Hint” and the suggested records underneath. If there are no suggestions, this section will not appear.
Each hint is prefaced with the name of the database that contains the hint record, the first and last name of the suggested person, and the birth and/or death year of that person as extracted from the source of the hint. An annotated sample is shown below. The name and date part of the hint is the hyperlink. You can click on it and go there directly, or right click and open the hint in a new tab or window.
The hints are listed in a relevance sequence with the best fit at the top of the list. A maximum of 10 hints are displayed. Not all databases currently provide hints. As new databases become hint providers, we will send an update on DB News, such as this one from last summer. You can also use Browse Database A-Z for a current list by typing “Hint” in the Search field.
We hope that this enhancement helps you with your search efforts. If you have any questions, please let us know by using the Comment or Question box or Report Error button on Record display. You can also email us directly at webmaster@nehgs.org.
