Vital Records of Plympton, Massachusetts to the Year 1850
Published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society at the Robert
Henry
Eddy Memorial Rooms at the Charge of the Eddy Town-Record
Fund.
Boston, Mass., 1923.
THIS publication
is issued under the authority of a vote passed by the
NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC
GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, November 6, 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.
James Parker Parmenter
Hosea Starr
Ballou
G. Andrews Moriarty, Jr.
John Wallace Suter
Alfred Johnson
J.
Gardner Bartlett
Editor, Henry Edwards Scott
Wright & Potter Printing
32 Derne Street
Boston,
Mass.
THE TOWN OF PLYMPTON, Plymouth County, was established
June 4, 1707,
from a part of Plymouth. July 4, 1734, a part was included in the
new
town of Halifax. December 11, 1734, a part of Middleborough was annexed.
June
9, 1790, a part was established as Carver. February 8, 1793, bounds between
Plympton
and Carver were established. March 16, 1831, a part was annexed to
Halifax.
February 6, 1863, bounds between Plympton and Halifax were established
and
a part of each town was annexed to the other town.
Population by Census: 1765 (Prov.),
1390;
1776 (Prov.),1707; 1790
(U.S.),
956;
1800 (U.S.), 861; 1810
(U.S.), 900;
1820 (U.S.), 930; 1830
(U.S.), 920;
1840 (U.S.), 834; 1850
(U.S.), 927;
1855 (State),1000; 1860
(U.S.), 994;
1865 (State), 924; 1870
(U.S.), 804;
1875 (State), 755; 1880
(U.S.), 694;
1885 (State), 600; 1890
(U.S.), 597;
1895 (State), 549; 1900
(U.S.), 488;
1905 (State), 514; 1910
(U.S.), 561;
1915 (State),
599; 1920
(U.S.),
469.
EXPLANATIONS.
1. The fact that a
birth, marriage, or death is recorded in Plympton does
not prove that it
occurred there, unless it is so stated in the record.
When places other than
Plympton and Massachusetts are named in the original
records, they are given as
they appear there; but when Plympton is named,
the initial letter only is used, except in unusual phrases.
2. In all items from town
records the original spelling is followed, and
no attempt is made to correct
errors appearing in the records.
3. The various
spellings of a name should be examined, as items about
the same family or
individual may be found under different spellings.
4. A
baptism is not printed, if it occurs within one year after the recorded
date of
birth of a child of the same name and parents or if it is clear
that the child
baptized is identical with the child of the birth record;
but variations found
in the baptismal record are added to the birth record.
5. The birth of a married woman is recorded under her
maiden name, if
it is known. But if the maiden name cannot be determined, the
entry appears
under the husband's name, with a dash enclosed in brackets, i.e.,
[-],
to signify that the maiden name is unknown. If it is not known whether the
surname
is that of a married or unmarried woman, ? m. is placed in brackets after the Christian
name.
6. Marriages and intentions of
marriage are printed under the names of
both parties. When both the marriage and
intention of marriage are recorded,
only the marriage record is printed; and
where a marriage appears without
the intention being recorded, it is designated with an asterisk.
7. 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 to
show variations in the spelling of a name in the same
entry, to indicate
the maiden name of a wife, to enclose an imperfect portion of
the original
text, and to separate clauses in the original text.
8. According to Chapter 84 of the Laws of 1857 records of
out-of-town
marriages prior to 1800 were returned to the place of residence of
the
contracting parties, and such a marriage is designated by a double dagger (-) preceding
it.
9. In March, 1812, Lewis Bradford
became town clerk of Plympton and held
this position until 1851. During his term
of office he often added information
to records entered by previous town clerks
and recorded in his own new
entries events that occurred before he took office.
In compiling this
volume these two kinds of records have been placed between the
following
characters, ( ), and the quotation marks employed in other entries to
indicate
unusual words and phrases have been omitted. He also inserted certain
marriage
records taken from the church books, and these have been designated by a section
mark
(§).
10. An example of one of Lewis Bradford's entries, as
printed among the
births in this
volume, follows.
ADAMS, (Sarah, w. John Perkins (s. Luke and Elizabeth
(first w.)), d.
Capt. Joshua of Kingston and Molly; s.
Thomas of Kingston and BATHSHEBA (d.
ISRAEL BRAD-
FORD and Sarah; s. MAJ. WILLIAM and Mary (third w.);
s. Gov. WILLIAM and Alice), Apr. 28, 1760]).
This entry
should be interpreted as follows:
Sarah Adams, wife of John Perkins, who was
son of Luke and Elizabeth his
first wife, was daughter of Capt. Joshua Adams of
Kingston and Molly.
Capt. Joshua was son of Thomas of Kingston and Bathsheba,
who was daughter
of Israel Bradford and Sarah. Israel Bradford was son of Maj.
William
and Mary his third wife, and Maj. William was son of Gov. William and
Alice.
Sarah Adams was born Apr. 28, 1760.
ABBREVIATIONS.
a. - age
abt. - about
b. - born
bp. - baptized
bur. -
buried
C.R. - church record, Congregational Church,
cb. - child
chn. -
children
Co. - county
d. - daughter; day; died
Dea. - deacon
dec'd -
deceased
dup. - duplicate entry
Eld. - Elder
Ens. - Ensign
G.R.1. -
gravestone record, Old Cemetery, at Plympton Centre
G.R.2. -
gravestone record, a small cemetery in the northern part of Plympton,
near the Kingston
line
G.R.3. - gravestone record, the small pox
cemetery at Plympton Centre
G.R.4. - gravestone record, the cemetery behind the church
at
Plympton Centre
h. - hours; husband
inf. - infant
int. -
publishment of intention of marriage
Jr. - junior
Lt. - Lieutenant
m. -
married; month
mar. - marriage
min. - minutes
P. - Plympton
P.C.R. - Plymouth County Record
P.R.1. - private record, from the John Sherman family Bible
in the possession
(1911) of John Sherman, Jr., of
Plynapton
P.R.2. - private record, from the James C. Ellis family
Bible in the possession
(1911) of Mrs. Ada Ellis Fuller of
Plympton
P.R.3.-private record, from the Benjamin Warren
family Bible in
the possession (1911) of Mrs. Alice Vickery of Plympton
P.R.4. - private record, from the family Bible of Miss
Eunice Loring Sherman
in the possession (1911) of Mrs. Mildred Sherman
Bradford of Plympton
P.R.5. - private record,
from the Thomas
Bowers Harrub family Bible in the
possession (1911) of Mrs. Elizabeth
P. Fillebrown of Plympton
P.R.6. - private record, from the Isaiah Churchill family
record in the
possession (1911) of Isaiah Francis Churchill of Plympton
P.R.7. - private record, from the Darius White family Bible
in the possession
(1911) of Mrs. Emily F.
Walton of Plympton
P.R.8. - private record, from the Alexander Churchill
family record in
the possession (1911) of Mrs. Juliet Churchill Wright of
Plympton
P.R.9. - private record, from the
Zacheus Sherman
family record in the possession (1911) of Algernon
Sidney Sherman of Plympton
q.v. - which see; whom see
rec. - recorded
s. -
son
Sr. - senior
w. - week; wife
wid. - widow
widr. - widower
y.
- year