Published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society
at the Charge of the Eddy Town Record Fund

Boston, Mass. 1902

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 is hereby 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
P.H. Gilson Company
Boston, USA

THE TOWN OF  PERU, Berkshire County, was formerly Partridgefield.
  July 4, 1771, the new  plantation called Number Two  was established as Partridgefield.
  March   12, 1783, a part of Partridgefield was included in the new town of Middlefield.
  June 21,  1804, a part of Partridgefield was established as Hinsdale.
  June 19, 1806, the name of Partridgefield changed to Peru.

  Population by  Census: 1776 (Prov.), 376; 1790
(U.S.), 1041; 1800 (U. S.), 1361 ; 1810 (U. S.), 912;
1820 (U. S.), 748; 1830 (U. S.) 729; 1840 (U. S.),
576;  1850 (U. S.), 519; 1855 (State), 487; 1860
(U. S.), 499; 1865 (State), 494; 1870 (U.S.), 455;
1875 (State), 443; 1880 (U. S.), 403; 1885 (State),
368;  1890 (U. S.), 305; 1895 (State), 305; 1900
(U. S.), 253.

EXPLANATIONS.

  1. WHEN places other than  Peru 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 of parents, in late marriage records.


ABBREVIATIONS.

a. — age
b. — born
ch. — child
chn. — children
Co. — county
d. — daughter; died; day
Dea. —  deacon
duf. — 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