Beals Free Library, Worcester Co., Winchendon, Massachusetts

Beals Memorial Library

50 Pleasant Street

Winchendon, Worcester Co., MA 01475

Email: bealsmemoriallibrary@gmail.com 

Website: https://www.bealslibrary.org/

 Phone: (978) 297-0300

Once I started up the stairs, I saw I needed to enter on the side.

But, I'm not sure why I had to go through a basement filled with Christmas decorations.  

I visited this library on April 27, 2024, the same day I went to Ashby Free Public Library. The reference / checkout area was a large round desk surrounded by four rooms  and two hallways. The employees were very busy so I didn't ask questions. One thing I noticed was the ceiling fan was keeping us cool. I'm showing seven of the surrounding rooms.

The Library flyer stated that this library was built in 1913 with a $50,000 donation from Charles Beals in memory of his wife, parents and siblings." The population in this town is about 10,000.

At some point, I inquired about their genealogy section and I was taken to the basement. I find it more interesting if I have an ancestor to research, but unfortunately I didn't have anybody to look up. I'm showing what I thought other genealogists would be interested in. Lots of shelved filled with old genealogy / history books in a very dusty basement. If you locate your family, you are in for a treat.

I love old card catalogues. I don't know if they still use them because they have the internet

The collection of similar books are a set of the "Tan Books". Genealogy "Tan Books" most commonly refer to the Systematic Series of Massachusetts Vital Records.. This is a massive collection of 180+ published volumes covering the birth, marriage, and death records for over 200 Massachusetts towns up to the year 1850." Many Massachusetts libraries have at least some of these books, and you can find them online.

I only hope employees were able to locate what they were looking for.

Then an employee brought me up to the third floor where I saw a large meeting room and several small private ones.

This staircase was lovely, but another one wasn't as nice.

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A side view from a Library window.

Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center, Salem, Massachusetts--See The New Database

 

On a very quiet April day in 2023, I was in Salem and decided to visit the new Charter Street Welcome Center that opened in June 2021. It was a smart move because I didn't need an appointment and I had a good amount of time to talk to the employee with the computer in the center. He also put a few of my ancestor's names into the database and they were on the list (see below). There are two rooms to view in the Samuel Pickman House, a mariner who acquired land to build his house in 1657. There is a gift shop and a museum. The Welcome Center photos are below.

51 Charter Street, Salem Ma. 01951 Charter Street, Salem Ma. 01970 | info@charterstreetcemetery.com70 | info@charterstreetcemetery.com

Charter Street Cemetery Stone Database at: https://www.charterstreetcemetery.com/accessioning

The database can be used at home, however, I was surprised that I had to scroll line by line to find who I was looking for. It isn't set up to just type in a name, hit search and there you are. I found five names, all of whom I already knew and had taken their photos many years ago.

Simon Bradstreet            03/27/1697

Steven Daniels                02/14/1687

John Marston                  19/12/1681

Miles Ward                      29/08/1764

Sarah Massey Ward          20/11/1728

Salem Witch Trials Memorial with a marker below of John Proctor, hanged August 19, 1692.

My Simon Bradstreet tombstone.

My husband and I visited the cemetery in April 2019. From these photos, you can see that a lot of tree-cutting and repairs have been done. The Welcome Center hadn't opened yet.

Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts

Harmony Grove Cemetery

30 Grove St, Salem, MA 01970

Phone: (978) 744-0554

Date formed: 1840

Website: https://www.harmonygrovesalem.org/

From the website is this write-up, "At nearly 100 acres in size, Harmony Grove Cemetery has avenues and paths that meander through its over 21,000 monuments or burial markers, and rare and unusual plantings and tree specimens. Facing the entrance to the cemetery is the Blake Chapel, a beautiful gothic-style structure built in 1904 of Cape Ann granite."

I've visited the cemetery a number of times but not the office. My first visit was in 1999 and the most recent was this past May. I had a lengthy conversation with the staff of two and asked a lot of questions. When you scroll down in this blog you will see printouts I obtained. I was very curious to learn if they were online. The answer was no, but they were sure it would happen in the future. The other day, I called the office to see if the online project was completed, because I wanted to share the information. However, they think it might be as long as a year. When it happens, it would be a reason to celebrate.

Main Entrance

The Blake Chapel is above and to the left is the business office on Highland Avenue (side view), shown below.

Main door, looking out. Office photos below.

The two women staff were most helpful to me. I didn't expect what they gave me. After bringing out two large binders (shown above), they showed me the listings of all those buried in this cemetery. I asked to see a listing for Poole, which turned out to be quite lengthy. I have eight direct Poole names and two Daniels names listed. I was very lucky when they offered to make copies of the pages for me. (Shown below.)

 

Back entrance to the office, and parking area.