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

Publisher's Note.

THE list of Charlton Births, Marriages and Deaths comprised in this volume includes all that were found in the Town Books covering the period from the earliest date there recorded to the end of the year 1849. Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths from the records of the First Church, and Deaths from the gravestone inscriptions in the old Burial Ground have been added to make the record as complete as possible, and these sources are indicated in each instance by proper reference.

  All of the records are condensed in print as much as is consistent with intelligibility, accuracy, and completeness of information. Differences in duplicates, and explanatory or other matter which seemed necessary or desirable, appear in brackets.
  Marriages and intentions of marriage are printed under the names of both parties, but the full information concerning each person is given only under his or her name. An asterisk after a marriage indicates that the intention was not found recorded, and in many cases this is accounted for by the fact that neither party belonged in Charlton, and consequently publishment was made elsewhere.
  The double date is used in the months of January, February and March prior to 1752 only when it so appears in the original, and instances of the modern form after 1725 are not uncommon. When places other than Charlton and Massachusetts are named in the original records, they are given in the printed copy.

ABBREVIATIONS.
a. — age
abt. — about
b. — born
ch.— child
chn. — children
Co. — county
C.R. — church record
d. — daughter ; day ; died
Dea. — deacon
D.R. — death record
dup. — duplicate entry
f. — female
G.S.—gravestone record
h. — husband
inf. — infant
int. — publishment of intention of marriage
Jr. — junior
m. — male ; married ; month
N.S. — New Style
O.S. — Old Style
P.R. — private record
rec. — recorded
s. — son
Sr. — senior
w. — wife
wid. — widow
widr. —widower
y. — year
2d. — second

The age given in the Deaths is in years unless otherwise indicated.

CHARLTON.
ESTABLISHED November 21, 1754, from part of Oxford as the District of Charlton. Was made a town by Act of August 13; 1775.
Part annexed to Oxford, January 5, 1789.
Part annexed to Sturbridge, June 26, 1792.
Part annexed to Oxford, February 23, 1809.
Part included in the new town of Southbridge, February 15, 1816.

Population at different periods: 1765, 739; 1776, 1,310; 1790, 1,965; 1800, 2,120; 1810, 2,180; 1820, 2,134; 1830, 2,173; 1840, 2,117; 1850, 2,015.
Population in 1900, 1,860.

Number of Births printed .........4,150
                           Marriages ......1,812 — 3,624 names
                      Deaths  ..................957
                                              8,731 total