A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston

Containing

Dorchester Births, Marriages, and Deaths to the End of 1825

 

Boston

Rockwell and Churchill, City Printers

1890

 

This volume, being the Twenty-first Report of the Record

Commissioners, contains, it is hoped, every entry of birth,

marriage, and death recorded as happening in the town of

Dorchester before the end of the year 1825, and now found

in the office of the City Registrar of Boston. Of the earliest

entries (pages 1—4, and 20), the original record no longer

exists, and they are only known in a copy. The rest of the

book is printed directly from the original records in three

volumes of manuscript. The first contains births 1642-83,

marriages 1663-83, deaths 1657—83; the second contains the

years 1684-1744, and the third 1745-1825.

 

For most of the time the records were fairly well kept,

and the writing and spelling are so good as to leave hardly a

single name in doubt. But Robert Searle, who was town-

clerk from 1693 to 1708, was a very poor writer, and had a

peculiar system of spelling (shown on page 122), which has

been followed except in the matter of capital letters. To

omit these in print, as he did in writing, would be simply a

deformity with no desirable result, as the original volumes

are easily accessible. After 1805, baptisms are mixed with

births, so that it is sometimes hard to say which was meant;

and entries are often made out of place, wherever a blank

space could be found. An earnest effort was made to print

everything in chronological order, but this has not been

perfectly done, as some entries were found too late to be put

in their proper places, especially in the later years, when a

whole family of children were baptized together. The same

birth is also often recorded twice, and even three times.

Most of the duplicate entries have been omitted.

Great care has been taken with the index, which it is hoped

will be found correct and meet with general approval.

Various spellings of a name have been usually grouped

together, but readers are warned that they may possibly find

names intended for the same entered separately under different

spellings. It is hoped that none have been wrongly

grouped.

 

The first volume of the records of the First Church of

Dorchester, coming down to 1730, has been going through

the press at the same time as this volume, under the charge of

the Rev. Charles H. Pope. It will be found a fitting and

useful companion to the town-records.

 

William S. Appleton,

For The Record Commissioners.

City Hall, Boston , September, 1890.

 

 

Vital Records of the Town of Dorchester from 1826 to 1849

Boston

Municipal Printing Office

1905

 

Registry Department of The City of Boston

Records Relating To Births, Marriages And Deaths of Dorchester

(Formerly called Record Commissioners' Reports)

 

This volume, which is the thirty-sixth report in the series of Boston Records, contains the Births, Marriages and Deaths of the Town of Dorchester from 1826 to 1849, inclusive, and additional deaths, copied from epitaphs of the First Burying Ground in Dorchester, which do not appear in the Dorchester Records.

EDWARD W. McGLENEN,

City Registrar.

 

The following records of Births, Marriages and Deaths, include all entries found in the books of record of the Town of Dorchester from 1826 to 1849, inclusive, and all records previous to 1826 not found in volume 21 of the Record Commissioners' Reports.

 

Surnames are classified under the most common spelling, the other combinations following, but in the marriages the spelling as given may be found by looking up the other name. In the records of births in several cases probable duplicates are found, the date differing a year. In such cases both entries are given, the latest entry marked "prob. dup."

 

An asterisk before a marriage indicates that the spelling compares exactly with the intention. Where a difference appears, it is noted; where no asterisk appears, or difference in spelling is noted, no intention was found. Instead of printing the name of the minister after each marriage a number is substituted, which will be found against the name in the list of ministers. In many cases the name of the

minister is not given, especially on returns from other towns.

 

In the records of deaths at the beginning of 1841 the following note appears: "Buried the day set down to each person," but in some cases two dates are given, presumably date of death and burial, and in such cases both dates are given. In 1844 the word "died" appears before the date, which would indicate that the date of death was recorded.

 

Following the regular lists of deaths, a supplement has been added which includes all deaths printed in the Annual Report of the Cemetery Department, 1904-05, copied from gravestones and tombs of the North District Burial Ground and which do not appear in our records.