Archive For The “Uncategorized” Category
Today we’ve added ten new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from Sacred Heart in Watertown, Sacred Heart in Lynn and St. Jean Baptiste in Lynn. This update adds over 17,900 records and over 72,900 names to search.
Sacred Heart in Watertown was established to serve the Catholics of eastern Watertown, set off from an area that formerly belonged to St. Patrick’s.
Sacred Heart in West Lynn was established in 1894, from an area that used to belong to St. Mary’s parish. See James S. Sullivan’s 100 Years of Progress for a description of the original boundaries.
Page B of St. Jean Baptiste (Lynn) Baptisms, 1886-1892 contains a brief history of the church, “Historique de la Congrégation Canadienne de Lynn, Mass.” Here is a brief translation:
French Canadians first assembled to organize a parish in Lynn the 14th September 1886. The first priest charged to serve the Canadians of Lynn was the P___ (not sure of word) Joseph O. Gadoury of Salem who was nominated by His Grace the Archbishop Williams of Boston the 18th September 1886. The first Mass was sung the 19th September 1886 in Mr. James Buffum’s chapel on Oxford Street in Lynn. Rev. Mr. Parent arrived in Lynn and Salem the 17th May 1887. The dedication of the S.J.B. Church on Franklin Street took place the 4th December 1887 by Mgr. J.J. Williams, Archbishop of Boston. Rev. J.B. Dumontier(?), pastor in Marlboro sung the Mass. Rev. J.A. Biron of Worcester gave the sermon. Rev. J.B. Parent was named pastor the 9th December 1887 and took charge of the parish the 18th December 1887.
We’d like to thank volunteer Debbie Lansing for her help indexing St. Jean Baptiste in Lynn and Sam Sturgis for his help making the Sacred Heart parishes available online.
The new volumes are listed below:
Sacred Heart (Lynn) Baptisms, 1894-1900
Sacred Heart (Lynn) Baptisms, 1900-1917
Sacred Heart (Lynn) Marriages, 1894-1918
Sacred Heart (Watertown) Baptisms, 1896-1913
Sacred Heart (Watertown) Confirmations, 1898-1916
Sacred Heart (Watertown) Confirmations, 1898-1920
Sacred Heart (Watertown) Marriages, 1896-1920
St. Jean Baptiste (Lynn) Baptisms, 1886-1892
St. Jean Baptiste (Lynn) Baptisms, 1893-1903
St. Jean Baptiste (Lynn) Marriages, 1886-1907
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’ve updated Early New England Families, 1641-1700, adding two new sketches, profiling Richard Hassell (m. 1643) and William Parry (m.1641).
Richard Hassell lived with his wife Joan in Cambridge, Billerica, and Dunstable. They had three children. William Parry lived in Watertown with his wife Anne. They had six children.
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 four new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 and updated three volumes from Holy Trinity in Boston. This update adds over 1,100 new pages to browse.
Holy Trinity was the heart of the German Catholic community in Boston. The parish was established in 1836; the first Mass in their church building was said in 1844. Read more about the history of the parish in our late volunteer Michael Hager’s American Ancestors magazine article. You can learn more about the Monatsbote, their parish newsletter in Thomas Lester’s article in the Pilot.
We’d like to thank volunteers Ross Weaver, Bill Wolfendale and Kim Bonner 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 Trinity (Boston) Baptisms, 1902-1908
Holy Trinity (Boston) Baptisms, 1908-1920
Holy Trinity (Boston) Burials, 1907-1920
Holy Trinity (Boston) Marriages, 1914-1920
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 Trinity (Boston) Baptisms 1894-1902
Holy Trinity (Boston) Deaths 1878-1907
Holy Trinity (Boston) Marriages 1893-1914
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: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from the St. Ann and St. Catherine of Genoa, both in Somerville. This update adds over 11,800 records and over 39,800 names to search from St Ann’s and over 6,500 records and over 29,800 names from St. Catherine of Genoa.
St. Ann was established in Somerville’s Winter Hill neighborhood in 1881. St. Catherine of Genoa was established in Spring Hill in 1891. Both parishes split off from St. Joseph in Union Square, the first Catholic church in Somerville.
We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these parishes available online.
The new volumes are listed below:
St. Ann (Somerville) Baptisms, 1881-1897
St. Ann (Somerville) Baptisms, 1898-1909
St. Ann (Somerville) First Communions and Confirmations, 1883-1920
St. Ann (Somerville) Marriages, 1891-1910
St. Catherine of Genoa (Somerville) Baptisms, 1892-1909
St. Catherine of Genoa (Somerville) Marriages, 1892-1920
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we have introduced some enhancements to the database search results processing on American Ancestors. These updates are intended to answer two of the most commonly asked questions about search:
- Why did I get Zero records for my search – Typically found when using Advanced Search (https://www.americanancestors.org/search/advanced-search)
- I received results, but they don’t seem like a good fit – Usually found with Database or Category Search
For the case of Zero records, you will now see a blue box in the results area that provides some suggestions on how to proceed. An example is in the image above. The contents of the box provide suggestions that are adjust for the query parameters that you have used. The Learn More link takes you to a short document reviewing a general set of suggestions for how to avoid this problem. Other items provide specific instructions to change your search parameters and help you find results. There are also links to a recorded webinar on search, start over with a new query or even contact Research Services for a thorny research problem.
The approach for the case of results that don’t seem like a good fit is similar. With Database and Category search the default experience is to get results that match any your criteria. This can be very helpful if here is something close, but it looks strange if there is not a good match on the last name. The picture below gives an example of what it looks like when this happens. The Learn More link takes you to a document reviewing the main suggestions on next steps.
We hope that these context specific additions to the search experience will help you get the most of your search time on American Ancestors.
Please contact us at webmaster@nehgs.org if you have any questions or suggestions for the database search experience. We are always happy to hear from you!
Today we’ve added four new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. Anthony of Padua in Cambridge. This update adds over 1,600 new pages to browse.
St. Anthony of Padua was established in 1902, serving the Portuguese immigrants of East Cambridge. The history of the church specifies the congregants came from mainland Portugal, the Azores, and Madeira. Boston College’s Global Boston project provides a helpful overview of Portuguese immigration to the Boston area including East Cambridge.
We’d like to thank volunteers Ross Weaver, Angela Napolitano, Eileen McCarthy and Kim Bonner 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. Anthony of Padua (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1902-1913
St. Anthony of Padua (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1913-1918
St. Anthony of Padua (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1918-1920
St. Anthony of Padua (Cambridge) Marriages, 1902-1920
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members. Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).
Today we’re announcing two new sketches in Western Massachusetts Families in 1790 featuring Thomas Eldridge of Hancock and Thomas Lawrence of Dalton.
Helen Ullmann’s lastest book has just come out: Western Massachusetts Families in 1790, Volume 4 . Learn more about the included sketches!
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 this update possible.
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’ve added six new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from the St. Mary of the Annunciation in Cambridge. This update adds over 42,000 records and over 157,500 names to search.
In One Hundred Years of Progress (1895), James S. Sullivan describes the parish, “This is one of the most influential and prosperous parishes in the Archdiocese and considering that it was organized no further back than 1866…its growth is little short of the marvelous.” When this parish was established, it was in the Cambridgeport neighborhood. It is not located within the modern bounds of Cambridgeport. Wikipedia explains the shifting boundaries of this neighborhood. The church was established on the corner of Harvard and Norfolk Streets, in the modern neighborhood of the Port, in between Central and Inman Squares.
We’d like to thank Sam Sturgis for his help making these volumes available online.
The new volumes are listed below:
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1867-1878
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1878-1896
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Baptisms, 1897-1910
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Confirmations, 1868-1884
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Confirmations, 1885-1902
St. Mary of the Annunciation (Cambridge) Marriages, 1867-1902
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Today we’ve added seven new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1920 from St. Joseph in Waltham. This update adds over 6,100 records and over 19,800 names to search.
In 1894 the French Canadian congregation of Waltham first gained a pastor. It took a few years to purchase a church building, but eventually St. Joseph’s was established on Central St. in the former Christ Church Episcopal building.
We’d like to thank volunteers Debbie Lansing, David Anderson, Bruce McKeeman, Loretta Brown-Aldrich, Kathy Oberley, Erin Canzano, Carol Farrington and Stacey-Rae McCue for their help making these volumes available online.
The new volumes are listed below:
St. Joseph (Waltham) Baptisms, 1894-1916
St. Joseph (Waltham) Confirmations, 1896-1920
St. Joseph (Waltham) Deaths, 1895-1920
St. Joseph (Waltham) First Communions and Confirmations, 1895-1920
St. Joseph (Waltham) First Communions, 1895-1920
St. Joseph (Waltham) Marriages and Deaths, 1895-1907
St. Joseph (Waltham) Marriages, 1895-1920
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.
Volume 63, for the year 2014, has been added to The Mayflower Descendant is fully searchable. This update adds approximately 275 new pages and 2,700 searchable names.
Mayflower Descendant has been published by the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants since 1899. It is an essential source of information on many New England families, and its focus is not limited to those with Mayflower lineage. The journal includes transcriptions and abstracts of deeds, wills, vital records, and other original documents. In addition, it features compiled genealogies and analytical studies of genealogical problems.
The indexing for these records includes full names, Publication year (not the year of the record), and article titles and authors.
This update is made possible by the efforts of our volunteer David Anderson. If you have a few hours a week and would like to get involved in the digitization and indexing process please contact Rachel Adams, Database Services Volunteer Coordinator via email at rachel.adams@nehgs.org.
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.