Archive For The “Uncategorized” Category

Today we’ve added nineteen new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from six parishes. The new volumes come from Gate of Heaven (South Boston), Sacred Heart (Newton), St. Casimir (Brockton), St. Joseph (Holbrook), St. Joseph (Ipswich), and St. Michael (Hudson). This update adds over 2,900 new pages to browse.
We’d like to thank volunteers Francis Alix, Eileen McCarthy Angela Napolitano, Bill Wolfendale, Ross and Linda Weaver, Kim Bonner, and Kate Rubio 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:
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Baptisms, 1866-1883
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Baptisms, 1884-1898
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Baptisms, 1898-1900
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Baptisms, 1900
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) First Communions and Confirmations, 1873-1900
Gate of Heaven (South Boston) Marriages, 1885-1900
Sacred Heart (Newton) Marriages, 1890-1900
St. Casimir (Brockton) Baptisms, 1900
St. Casimir (Brockton) Deaths, 1900
St. Casimir (Brockton) Marriages, 1900
St. Joseph (Holbrook) Baptisms, 1887-1900
St. Joseph (Holbrook) Confirmations, 1890-1900
St. Joseph (Holbrook) Marriages, 1887-1900
St. Joseph (Ipswich) Baptisms, 1889-1900
St. Joseph (Ipswich) First Communions and Confirmations, 1896-1900
St. Michael (Hudson) Index to Baptisms, 1875-1900
St. Michael (Hudson) Baptisms, 1875-1897
St. Michael (Hudson) Baptisms, 1898-1900
St. Michael (Hudson) Marriages, 1876-1900
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members. Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

Today we are announcing that we have updated all of the Massachusetts Probate File Papers databases so that they now provide hints for American AncesTREES. In addition, we have made the searchable version of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese available for hinting. This addition includes the following databases:
- Berkshire County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1761-1917
- Bristol County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686-1880
- Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881
- Franklin County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1812-1915
- Hampshire County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1660-1889
- Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871
- Norfolk County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1793-1877
- Plymouth County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1686-1881
- Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers
- Worcester County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1731-1881
- Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900
This update increases the number of databases providing hints to 22, and provides hints on over 1.6 million people that include over 2.6 million records.
You can get a complete list of databases that provide hints from the Database List A to Z screen (under Search). If you do a search for the term Hinting, you will see the full list.
American AncesTREES is available to all members. You can learn more information about it here.

We are extremely happy to announce a new database today; GU272 Descendants, 1785-2000. This database provides the indexed genealogies of the descendants of the 272 Slaves sold by Georgetown University (The GU272) in 1838, and was produced in a partnership with the Georgetown Memory Project. The article published in American Ancestors Magazine provides more information about these enslaved people and this project.
This database is organized into volumes. Each volume is based on a Register-style report on the descendants of the original families. The volume name includes the name of head of the family followed by the group number in parenthesis. For example: “Campbell, Adaline (Group 34)” contains the report of the descendants of Adaline Campbell, who is the 34th family. The final volume, titled Source Documents, contains indexed images of birth, marriage, and death certificates for people who are documented in the Register reports in the earlier other volumes.
The GU272 Descendants database contains 50 volumes with nearly 1,000 images and over 10,000 records and 32,000 searchable names. The database is indexed with name, date, location, record type, and family members where available. This database will also create hints for American AncesTREES.
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members, including guest members. Membership options.

Today we’re announcing two new sketches in Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. The new sketches this week focus on Justus Forward from Belchertown and Peter Train of Whately.
Reverend Justus Forward was born in 1730. He married Violet Dickenson; the couple had eleven children. He died in 1814. Peter Train was born in 1724/5 in Whately and married Sarah Cowles. They had ten children. He died in 1793.
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. 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 these updates possible.
Please note: This database is available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only. Consider membership.

Today we’ve added 6 new volumes to Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 for St. Thomas Aquinas in Bridgewater. This update adds 709 pages and over 28,000 names to search.
Father Roche, when he was the pastor of Abington, would come regularly to offer Mass to the Catholics in Bridgewater in the homes of local residents. In 1858 he started the construction of the church. The parish was named after St. Thomas Aquinas (patron of Catholic schools, colleges, and universities) because of the Normal School nearby as well as the fact that Fr. Roche was a Dominican like St. Thomas. Bridgewater was instituted as an independent parish in the middle of 1863 and Rev. Lawrence S. McMahon was appointed the first pastor. The church is located on 103 Center Street.
These are the new volumes for St. Thomas Aquinas
- St. Thomas Aquinas (Bridgewater) Baptisms 1865-1881
- St. Thomas Aquinas (Bridgewater) Baptisms 1882-1905
- St. Thomas Aquinas (Bridgewater) Baptisms and Marriages 1853-1856
- St. Thomas Aquinas (Bridgewater) Confirmations 1885-1922
- St. Thomas Aquinas (Bridgewater) Confirmations 1885-1940
- St. Thomas Aquinas (Bridgewater) Marriages 1863-1908
This update is made possible by the efforts of our volunteer Kayla Hinrichsen . If you are interested in helping this project, 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.

Today we’ve added three new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from St. Patrick in Lawrence. This update adds over 600 new pages to browse.
St. Patrick’s is the Catholic church in South Lawrence. The parish began in 1869 under the auspices of Immaculate Conception. In 1872, St. Patrick became an independent parish also encompassing St. Michael’s in North Andover.
We’d like to thank volunteers Francis Alix, Eileen McCarthy and Angela Napolitano 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. Patrick (Lawrence) Baptisms, 1872-1900
St. Patrick (Lawrence) Confirmations, 1894-1900
St. Patrick (Lawrence) Marriages, 1872-1900
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members. Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

Volume 62, for the year 2013, has been added to The Mayflower Descendant database and is fully searchable. This update adds approximately 220 new pages and 1,700 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 some time 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.

Today we’ve added six new volumes to Massachusetts: (Image-Only) Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 from St. Peter in Dorchester. This update adds over 460 new pages to browse.
St. Peter (Dorchester) began in 1872 as an offshoot of St. Gregory in Dorchester. In James Sullivan’s One hundred years of progress, Joseph Byrne enthusiastically describes the appearance of the church which was dedicated in 1884, “No technical description can do more than faintly suggest the grandeur of St. Peter’s church which is a poem of architectural beauty” (175). The Dorchester Athenaeum’s history of the church has a very helpful paragraph (the sixth on the page) that explains the evolution of the Catholic parishes in Dorchester.
We’d like to thank the following scanners for their help making this update possible: Francis Alix, Eileen McCarthy, Angela Napolitano and John Phlo. Volunteer Linda Weaver did vital image-merging work on five of the six volumes.
If you need help navigating this collection, please consult our how-to video. The new volumes are listed below:
St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1872-1887
St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1887-1895
St. Peter (Dorchester) Baptisms, 1895-1900
St. Peter (Dorchester) Confirmations, 1882-1900
St. Peter (Dorchester) Marriages, 1872-1897
St. Peter (Dorchester) Marriages, 1897-1900
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, 1789-1900 from St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence). This update adds over 440 new pages to browse.
St. Lawrence O’Toole in Lawrence was set off from Immaculate Conception and St. Mary in 1873. St. Lawrence O’Toole, the saint for whom the church was named was the Archbishop of Dublin in the 1100s.
We’d like to thank the following volunteers for their help scanning these volumes: Bill Wolfendale, Eileen McCarthy and Angela Napolitano.
If you need help navigating this collection, please consult our how-to video. The new volumes are listed below:
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Baptisms, 1875-1887
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Baptisms, 1898-1900
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Confirmations, 1882-1897
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) First Communions, 1899
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Marriages, 1883-1887
St. Lawrence O’Toole (Lawrence) Marriages, 1898-1900
Please note: This database is available to all NEHGS members. Learn more about becoming a NEHGS guest member (free).

We have re-indexed the database Connecticut: Early Probate Records, 1635-1750. This database is now searchable by first name and last name, date, and location. All records are of type Probate Record.
Charles William Manwaring spent the last years of his life abstracting the early probate records of the Hartford, Connecticut, Probate District and publishing them in three volumes that are reflected in this database. For those that are interested in reading the original probate documents, the volume and page numbers are in the pages of this database and are displayed in the record details as Original Volume and Original Page.
Connecticut today is comprised of many different probate districts. But originally Connecticut Colony (as distinct from New Haven Colony) probate records were all kept by the colony as a whole. Then in 1666, after the union of the two colonies, probate matters were conducted by four newly formed counties, Hartford, New London, New Haven, and Fairfield. In May 1719 the colony began splitting towns off of the Hartford district to form new districts, first Windham, then Woodbury, and so on. Thus Charles W. Manwaring’s abstracts of Hartford District probates, which began in 1635, at first included the whole colony, but by 1750, when his third volume concludes, the district was considerably smaller.
This update is made possible by the efforts of our team our volunteers, specifically David Anderson. We genuinely appreciate the work of all our volunteers who make these databases possible. If you have some time and would like to get involved 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.