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Archiver > MAMIDDLE > 2007-07 > 1185195983


From: "John Slaughter" <>
Subject: Re: [MAMiddle] Vitals of Winchester and Arlington
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 06:06:23 -0700


Betty,
Your queries regarding records for people living in an area before it
became incorporated are quite valid. That is one reason why I have made the
master surname index to the vital records. It totally ignores all
boundaries. The indexing program goes through everything that we currently
have online, locates the surnames, sorts and puts them together into web
pages. Note that this even indexes those towns where we have only the
surnames up. Anyone finding these, can simply ask us for the page images, if
they are not already online, and we'll get the images to them.

Secondly, I have always told people to look at the main town page. There,
they'll usually find a short bit of information on the town giving its date
of incorporation, what its parent town was and annexations over the years
that would affect the boundaries.

The early vital records of Massachusetts, 1600-1850, was a series of books
that were published from about 1890 to 1935, included something around 300
towns. Over 50 in Middlesex county. The project at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~maessex/VitalRecords will, eventually, have all of
these books online. They will be fully indexed and include images of all
pages, other than those that are still under copyright.

Take advantage of this wealth of information.


John Slaughter
In loving memory of our son, Brennan. 11/10/88-5/31/01.
http://john-slaughter.rootsweb.com/Brennan.html

MA-Bay-Colony & MAMiddle list moderator
USGenWeb County Coordinator
Essex County, MA - http://www.rootsweb.com/~maessex
Middlesex County, MA - http://www.rootsweb.com/~mamiddle
USGenWeb Town Coordinator Ipswich, Essex, MA -
http://www.rootsweb.com/~macipswi





>From: "Betty" <>
>To: <>
>Subject: [MAMiddle] Vitals of Winchester and Arlington
>Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 06:23:19 -0400
>
>Hello,
>
>It has occurred to me this morning that "vital records" in the late 1700's,
>say the 1790's, might be hard to find for towns, like Winchester and
>Arlington, which did not become incorporated until 1850 and 1867.
>Further to that, in 1807, the Town of West Cambridge was formed. And,
>that town became Arlington.
>And, in the very early 1600's, what we now know as Winchester was a
>district
>in Charlestown, and in 1642 that land was incorporated as Woburn.
>
>So, if you have an ancestor living in the Boston area in, say, the 1770's,
>would the "vitals" for your ancestor be in Charlestown or Cambridge ?
>Or,
>would the "births, etc." be in 2 books - like both in Woburn and Winchester
>? And, if "West Cambridge" was incorporated as a town in 1807, would
>the "vital records" for West Cambridge be in the Cambridge books or the
>Arlington books ?
>
>Just curiousity questions !
>.
>http://www.winchestermass.org/history.html
>
>http://www.winchesterhistoricalsociety.org/resource.html
>
>http://www.town.arlington.ma.us/Public_Documents/ArlingtonMA_WebDocs/ArlingtonHistory
>
>http://www.arlingtonhistorical.org/
>
>
>Going along with this is the Town of Lexington. Lexington wasn't
>incorporated until 1713. I believe it was originally "Cambridge
>Farms."
>So, if people were living in "Cambridge Farms" in the 1600's, were their
>"marriages," etc., have been recorded in Cambridge? And, would the
>vitals
>be in both Cambridge and Lexington books ?
>
>(This was discussed on the List a year or two ago !)
>
>http://ci.lexington.ma.us/
>
>http://www.lexingtonhistory.org/pmwiki.php?n=Main.HomePage
>
>The similar situation occurs in Belmont's history:
>
>http://www.town.belmont.ma.us/Public_Documents/BelmontMA_WebDocs/aboutf/0010F5ED-000F8513
>
>Betty (near Lowell, MA)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>New List created on Feb. 1: CAN-USA-MIGRATION
>
>For Genealogy researchers, please remember to check the archives of the
>Lists & Boards for both your surnames and place-names.
>
>
>
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