Question:
Can you assist me with the abbreviations from the pre-1850 Vital Records for Massachusetts? What does PR, GS, and CR stand for, I photocopied pages at NEHGS but did not write down what they corresponded to.
Answer:
Thank you for your note. The compiliers of the official series of Massachusetts vital records to 1850 would often utilize private, church, and gravestone inscription records when town vital records were not complete. The abbreviation PR - stands for Private Record. Private Records were compiled from diaries, bible records or ledgers, held in private collections. These records often recorded birth, marriage and death events in the community. The parish records of certain churches containing marriages, baptisms and burials are referred to with the abbreviation CR - Church Records. And often the dates inscribed on gravestones in local cemeteries were transcribed - this is the reason for GS and GR for Gravestone Record.