Published by the New Englad Historic Genealogical Society, at the Charge of the Eddy Town-Record Fund.

Boston, Mass., 1903

THIS Publication is issued under the authority of a vote passed by the NEW-ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, 6 November, 1901, as follows:
    Voted: That the sum of $20,000, from the bequest of the late Robert Henry Eddy, be set aside as a special fund to be called the Eddy Town-Record Fund, for the sole purpose of publishing the Vital Records of the towns of Massachusetts, and that the Council be authorized and instructed to make such arrangements as may be necessary for such publication. And the treasurer ishereby instructed to honor such drafts as shall be authorized by the Council for this purpose.

Committee on Publications.
C. B. Tillinghast
Francis Everett Blake
Charles Knowles Bolton
Don Gleason Hill
Edmund Dana Barbour
Editor, Henry Ernest Woods

Stanhope Press
P. H. Gilson Company
Boston, U.S.A.

THE TOWN OF BECKET, Berkshire County,  was established June 21, 1765, prior to which time it was the new plantation called Number Four.
March 12, 1783, a part of Becket was included in the new town of Middlefield.
February 3, 1798, certain common lands lying between Becket, Blandford, Chester, and Loudon were annexed to Becket.
 March 1, 1810, a part of Loudon was annexed to Becket.

Population by Census: 1776 (Prov.), 414; 1790
(U.S.), 751; 1800 (U.S.), 930; 1810(U.S.), 1028;
1820 (U.S), 984; 1830 (U.S.), 1063; 1840 (U.S),
1342; 1850 (U.S.), 1223; 1855 (State), 1472; 1860
U.S.), 1578; 1865 (State), 1393; 1870 (U.S), 1346;
1875 (State), 1329; 1880 (U.S), 1123; 1885 (State),
938; 1890 (U.S), 946; 1895 (State), 888; 1900
(U.S), 994.

EXPLANATIONS.
1. WHEN places other than Becket and Massachusetts are named in the original records, they are given in the printed copy.
2. In all records the original spelling is followed.
 3. The various spellings of a name should be examined, as items about the same family or individual might be found under different spellings,
4. Marriages and intentions of marriages are printed under the names of both parties, but the full information concerning each party is given only in the entry under his or her name. When both the marriage and intention of marriage are recorded, only the marriage record is printed; and where a marriage appears without the intention recorded, it is designated with an asterisk.
5. Additional information which does not appear in the original text of an item, i.e., any explanation, query, inference, or difference shown in other entries of the record, is bracketed. Parentheses are used only when they occur in the original text, or to separate clauses found there — such as the birth-place ofparents, in late marriage records.

ABBREVIATIONS.
a. — age
b. — born
ch. — child
chn, — children
Co. — county
d. — daughter; died; day
Dea. — deacon
dup. — duplicate entry
f. — female
h. — husband
inf. — infant
int. — publishment of intention of marriage
Jr. — junior
m. — married; male; month
prob. — probably
rec. — recorded
s. — son
Sr. — senior
w. — wife; week
wid. — widow
widr. —widower
y. — year
1st. — first.
2d. — second
3d. — third.