Not all are Tan (Massachusetts Vital Records Series)

Many genealogists doing early Massachusetts research will probably use the Vital Records, either on microfilm or in book form. The books are often referred to as the "Tan Books." However, as indicated by the photos below, that term may not make much sense in the future. As I've been revisiting the majority of the libraries for my Library series, I've noticed a change. The "Tan Books" are changing color. The orange books are from the Chelmsford, MA library, and the black ones from Lowell, MA. In addition, I've seen blue and green bound books. I'm not sure if the library is deciding on the colors when they are rebound, maybe I'll ask. All I want you to be aware of is the fact that they are not all tan.

From Archive Publishing, their description of the Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 is below.

PRINTED VITAL RECORDS FOR 2/3 OF STATE

Are you searching for names in Massachusetts? If so, maybe you've already looked through the tan books of the old printed series of vital records to 1850. This series, published nearly a hundred years ago for 210 of the 350 or so Massachusetts towns and cities, lists births, marriages, and deaths for the earliest settlers, and continues through 1849.

 

SOURCE OF DATA

Most of the data come from original records safeguarded in town halls, sometimes supplemented with facts from church, cemetery, court, or family bibles. Because the information comes from such a diverse group of sources, many now missing; these books, compiled years ago as a secondary source, sometimes now serve as the only link to primary-source documents.

 

VALUE OF PRINTED RECORDS

Not only do these volumes contain valuable data, but they are easy to use; being printed, with names arranged alphabetically, cross-referenced to alternate spellings, and placed in categories of births, marriages, and deaths. Further, though not entirely error-free, these records are remarkably accurate. 

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An example of a book is for Dana is below. It gives you an idea of what is included. (Some larger towns, like Salem, MA have six volumes, two for births, for marriages and deaths.) Regarding Dana, Massachusetts, unfortunately, the town (with others) was flooded to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir in 1938. The entire Dana Vital Records book is online, maybe seen.

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Two Death Certificates For Same Person -- Why?

There is nothing unusual about the death certificates (below)  for my great-grandparents. They were obtained in 1999 and you can see that the state loved red stamps. If you look closely, you can see that they died in Illinois and were buried in Washington, D.C.

The third certificate is for my great-grandmother, recently found on the internet, is from the District of Columbia. Her information was "furnished by transit permit." If you ever have a "transit permit" certificate of death, you will see there is very little information provided, so try and obtain the original certificate from where that person died.

The saddest thing is, I haven't a clue where I found her second certificate on the internet. And, I can't even locate my great-grandfather's "transit permit" (his record of death, does state transit permit), although I saw a shorter one and copied to my computer, somewhere. Lesson learned to myself...pay more attention and keep better records, even after all these years, I mess up.

Click to enlarge.

Massachussetts Vital Records Birth Record News

Michael Brophy just sent the following message to a local genealogy club, and probably to others, and I felt his information was interesting and helpful, especially for those doing research here.


I quickly wrote him to obtain permission to copy his message to my blog. He kindly gave approval. Michael's blogs are at Brophy Professional Genealogy and Heir Tracing and Brophy's Irish Genealogy Blog.


"While visiting the Massachusetts Vital Records Office in Boston yesterday, I discovered that the registry has now made birth records available online inside the registry for the first time. The years covered are 1953-1986 and do not include marriage or death records. There is not remote access at this time.


This service improvement should held researchers work more efficiently in the often crowded and under serviced research room. The new access to the records eliminates the limitation on viewing these records by waiting for a "call for slips" after obtaining a volume and page number from an index. The registry charges a step fee of nine dollars per hour to access vital records in the research room and has cut down on their research hours in recent years.


Secretary Nyberg of the Vital Records said that future plans for the project are to expand access. In a tour of the Vital Records Registry in 2009 by the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, he said that the goal is to have the records viewable at town halls throughout the state."


Michael Brophy

Killingworth, Connecticut, I Have More Ancestors from Here than Anywhere Else!

Killingworth, Connecticut has one of the largest concentration of my direct ancestors, and a custom report revealed that I had 34 direct line couples married there. I have 753 source citations from the Vital Records of Killingworth!

What is special about Killingworth? When I first began the hobby, I became familiar with the name; often misspelled Killingsworth, and confused with the other town, Killingly. My mother's DAR patriot, Asher Wright, died there, and my DAR patriot, Jonathan Kilborn was married there (I was happy to find a new patriot, so I didn't have to share hers.)

I was hooked on this town when I inquired about records, then soon received quite a packet from the Killingworth town hall. An employee made copies of selected original records for me. Soon I was planning a visit, and when I went, it became my first cemetery trip, (about 2.5 hours away).

Of all the direct surnames, there are many with multiple generations, the families are:
Crane (3);
Davis (5);
Farnham (4);
Griffin (4);
Hayton (3);
Hull (4);
Kelsey (8);
Kilborn (2);
Steevens (2);
Turner (3);
Wilcoxson (3)
Wright (5)

Fortunately, there are many records for this area, and family genealogies as well. Almost every early family is related to somebody in the Hull, Kelsey or Steevens family. Knowing where your ancestors lived can help in doing research, and it helped me even solve a brick wall. There are three genealogies I constantly used:

1.  Hull, Robert E., The Ancestors & Descendants of George Hull and Thamzen Mitchell.

Page 36 "The following 'Allotment of the several inhabitants of Hammonascitt' is from page 1 of the Town Records of Killingworth.

"Thomas Smith, William Barber, Henry Farnam, William Wellman, George Chatfield, Thomas Stevens, Edward Griswold, William Heyton, Samuel Buell, John Kelsey, Robert Williams, granted, John Nuthton, granted, -- Turney, purchase John Rositer by agreement, John Miggs, granted John Shether, purchase of Jonathan Dunnin, George Sanders, granted William Stevens, Josiah Hull, Senr., Eliezer Isbel, granted, Isaac Griswold, purchase Jonathan Dunnin'"

"In 1669 the following list of freeman of the 'Town of Killingworth' is recorded: Mr. John Woodbridge, Mr. Edward Griswold, Josiah Hull, John Wilcockson, Samuel Buell, Jonas Westover, Eliazer Isbel, William Stevens, Nathaniel Parmerly, William Barver, John Miggs, Sr., Andrew Wards, William Kulsey, William Wellman, George Chatfield, Thomas Stevens, John Kielsey, John Muggs, Jr., Josiah Hull, John Rosseter, townsmen; George Chatfield, Constable."


2.  Claypool, Edward and Azalea Clizbee, A Genealogy of the Descendants of William Kelsey, Vol. I, (Pub. Tuttle, Morehouse and Taylor Co., 1928).

3.  Barlow, Claude Willis, John Steevens of Guilford, Connecticut,  (Rochester, NY: John M. Stephens, 1976).

Several bloggers have written about towns they have felt connected to. For me, it is Killingworth.  For some reason, I've always traveled to the town in early April, just before spring. So all my photos look like fall with huge ugly brown oak leaves on the cemetery grounds. I am hoping to go again, but in early May. When I looked at Google's images for Killingworth, there a few scrolled pages down, I couldn't believe my own picture, one being my flower logo, a click pulled my blog of December 11, 2010 for my Kelsey line, and then the logo for My Heritage Award had my Davis line post.  Both Kelsey and Davis were from Killingworth. You just don't know where your information is going to show up!

New: Historical information from Tercentenary, Clinton, CT 1663-1963, (Pub. Clinton, CT, 1963).

Page 5. "The names of the settlers and proprietors, were as follows, viz. John Meigs, Bryan Rosseter, John Rosseter, George Chatfield, Nathaniel Parmelee, Thomas Stevens, William Stevens and Benjamin Wright from Guilford; William Griswold from Saybrook; Josias Hull, from the county of Barnstable, Mass.; Henry Farnum and Eleazer Isabel, from Long Island; Samuel Buel from Wales; William Barber from England; and Matthew Allen, Henry Crane, Jonathan Drummer, Joseph Hand, William Heyden, John Hodge, John Nettleton, Thomas Smith, William Wellman, Jonas Westover and Robert Williams."

Page 7. "Ananias Turner and Andrew Ward moved into Killingworth as early as 1670. Robert Lane, from Derbyshire in England, and the ancestors of the Merrills and Rutty families were also early settlers. Robert Carter from Bristol in England became an inhabitant about 1700, and Ebenezer Hurd, from Waterbury in this state, around 1706. The Morgans in this town are from Groton, and the Hillyards from Stonington."

The settlement in North Killingworth began in 1716. The first settlers in this parish, were Isaac Kelsey Esq., Dea. Josiah Hull, Dea. Joseph Wilcos, Dea. Daniel Buel, John Wilcox, Joseph Griswold, Nathaniel Parmelee, Ebenezer Hull, Samuel Stevens, and Edward Rutty. These were all from the first parish in the town. Solomon Davis, Timothy Chittenden and Theophilus Redfield soon united with them;  but from what places they emigrated is not known. James Hill, David Blatchley and Bezaliel Bristol, moved into this place from Guilford about 1750.The Graves and Harris families are from Saybrook."

Page 9. "The present Killingworth is called North Killingworth. At that time the two parts were one town, but North Killingworth did have its own church, a Congregation and an Episcopal Church, both established prior to the separation into the two towns."

(Photo by Mary Frances Studzinski of Killingworth, used with her permission.)

Jacob Scramlin's Obituary (New York to Michigan)

The below obituary is similar to any other obituary I have. Jacob Scramlin was my 3rd great-grandfather. When I received this, I already had his death certificate...with a different death date. The death date was April 9, 1886, and the below obituary stated April 9, 1881 (a five year difference). The original requested death certificate was 12-21-98. At some point, I received the obituary, and it probably sat in a pile of papers. It took over two years (March 2001) before I wrote the State of Michigan for a review of the death certificate and requested, that if they made an error, I would like a corrected copy. They issued a new death certificate on March 13th, now the date of the obituary and the death certificate are the same. I don't need to tell you how important it is to check all documents and make sure they agree pertaining to dates, and if not, why not. I learned an important lesson. Now FamilySearch has it online for free...I would have been so happy to see the actual image eleven years ago.
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Obituary from Battle Creek Journal newspaper from the Willard Library in Battle Creek's Collier Collection, 67.302, dated April 4, 1881.


Obituary of Jacob Scramlin.
To the editor of the Battle Creek Journal.
   Jacob Scramlin was born in Oneonta Otsego Co. N.Y., May 16th 1810 and died at his home in West Leroy, Calhoun Co., Mich., April 9th 1881, consequently his age was 70 years, 10 months, and 23 days.
   He removed to Leroy, Mich. about 1853 (28 years ago) where he remained up to the time of his death.
   He was married to Miss Sally Van Wert in Oneonta, N.Y., ___1831. He had 5 children by her, 4 of whom, with the wife of his youth, preceded him to the land beyond the river.
   He was united in marriage to his 2nd wife, Miss Olive Eldred, Sept. 27, 1855, 15 years ago at Charleston, Mich. She with his youngest daughter, Mrs. Annie Clark and two grandchildren of his immediate family, one brother and one sister, still survive to mourn their loss and to rejoice at his eternal gain.
   He was soundly converted to Christ and united with the Free-will Baptist Church, in his early manhood, in the home of his childhood, and continued an active earnest consistent member of that church until he removed to Michigan. As there was no Free-will Baptist Church near his home, he never united in any branch of the visible church in Michigan, although most of the members of his family became members of the of the Methodist Episcopal church at West Leroy, near his home. Although not formally affiliated with the church, and he contributed $200 to West Leroy and $200 to the Climax churches. He was a regular attendant upon the means of grace until failing health necessarily kept him at home.
   He was an industrious, hard-working man, a prudent, successful manager of his temporal career.
   When his health began to fail, some 7 or 8 years ago, he sold his large farm; retaining a few acres, where he built a comfortable house and out-buildings, for a home where he patiently spent the remaining years of his slowly wasting life, amid feebleness and pain, while confidently waiting for the coming of his Lord to take him home, to the land of rest and to the society of his loved ones gone before. Long before his death he had carefully arranged all of his business matters and made his peace with God, so he had nothing to do but watch and wait for his coming.
   Such an honest, earnest, Godly, hopeful, helpful life could have no other, but a successful termination. His sun of life went down in a cloudless sky to rise amid the glorious realities of the excellent glory.
   May the dear Savior help us to appreciate and profit by his Godly life, and example; to sympathize with his grief stricken family and ultimately to meet and greet them in the land where shadows and parting never come.
   His funeral was largly attended April 11th from the West Leroy M.E. Church, Rev. L.M. Edwards officiating. His pastor, Rev. E.D. Bacon being sick. The sermon was based on a text rendered in Phil 1, 21, after which a large portion of the congregation followed his remains to the local cemetery near his home where loving hands deposited them beside the remains his loved ones gone before.
   L.M. Edwards.
   Climax, April 11th
______________

Not On The Railroad Tracks!

My great-grandmother died a terrible death. At age 69 she should have been living the good life, and enjoying her three great-grandchildren. But with her mother's death the year before and her husband's death three years prior, Mira Kilborn Bishop slipped into depression. She had one child, my grandfather, and I can only assume he tried to cheer her up. But, he was married with three children under ten, commuted to New York City from Connecticut, to work as an architect, so I doubt he was around much to help his mother.

I ordered her death certificate March 1991, as I needed this proof for my DAR papers. So I've known a long time about her death. But it wasn't until this past week that I decided to see about getting an obituary, only 19 years later. Then I thought of Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness (RAOGK), something I've never used, but have heard great things about. So, I wrote and requested an obituary on November 11th. On the third day, there it was, an email with a copy attached from a wonderful volunteer. Not quite an obituary, but the write-up about the "accident." Mona Rhone was super, I couldn't believe how fast she was in getting to to me, I didn't even have the chance to be impatient. Thank you Mona, and she already knows she will hear from me again.


Below are the copies of the newspaper article and death certificate.

From: Meriden Record-Journal

Front and back of death certificate.

Mira and Earl Kilborn

Positive vs. Negative and the Drouin Collection

Two different sources, two different images. Which version do you like, the negative or the positive?  The first record was located 12 years ago at a library in Boston. The microfilm reel was labeled "Quebec National Archives Microfilm #124.4" This means the records were in the 124 series, and this was part 4, I think there are 14 parts.

The second example is from the "Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967" available through Ancestry.com.  When these became available several years ago, researchers were thrilled because that meant no more ordering LDS records or manually going image by image as I did.

The two records below are exactly the same, one positive and the other negative. Recently while at the New England Historic and Genealogical Library (NEHGS) I had to ask an employee the difference between the two. All I knew was, I could change the option from a button on the machine. She said the first one is a negative image (white with black background), originally done as a positive. If you wish more information about the meaning between, please see below.

The second image is from Ancestry.com and that is how most records appear, as a positive. Sometimes it is easier to read it with a black background, you have to decide, if you have the option.

Now, while on this subject, I have gone round in circles with several people in the past, telling them I already had the records and they were not called the Drouin Collection. The images below are the exact same but called different things. I have always sourced my Canadian records as "Archives National de Quebec Parish Register," then the series and roll number, there is no mention of Drouin on the boxes or on the film.

Ancestry states: "Quebec Notarial Records (Drouin Collection), 1647-1942

Until the late 1900s, church registers in Quebec served as civil and vital records in that province. Throughout the years a second copy of church records, from all denominations, was sent annually to the appropriate courthouse. During the 1940s the vital record collections in courthouses throughout Quebec were filmed by the Institut Généalogique Drouin.* The filming of vital records continued for some areas up through the 1960s. Consequently, this filmed set of records became known as the Drouin Collection. The majority of the records in this database cover the time period 1621-1947, as most of the filming was done in the 1940s. The records that were filmed up through the 1960s are also included in this database, although they are very few in number. These records that were filmed later cover the years 1948-1967. Names from all years have now been indexed and can be searched on using the search box above."

Above is from a roll of film, labeled "Archives National de Quebec Parish Register"

Ancestry's image (you need to be a subscriber)
"Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967"



Above photos taken at NEHGS.

Wikipedia's page for Negative and Positive Photography

A positive image is a normal image (black image on white background). A negative image is a total inversion of a positive image, in which light areas appear dark and vice versa.

Follow Friday -- Follow the Surname

When I received the marriage certificate with the big ugly red stamp, and copied off-center I was a little upset. But then I read it. Darn, this wasn't to my liking, my great-grandparents had the same 

surname!

I probably stewed about it, then went on to other things, all the while angry for the mistake.  But, there was no mistake.  A good deal later, I discovered that Charles Clarence Poole and Anna "Annie" Poole were related, they were second cousins once removed!  That discovery made for a quick lineage for Annie, as I only had to add a few lines, then merge her file into her husband's.  Even when I used FamilyTreeMaker to calculate their relationship, they don't show up as husband and wife, but as second cousins once removed.

If you ever come across something like this, you might be luckier than unlucky.  And, don't always assume the certificate is wrong!

Many years later, I now can see the record online at Family Search through their Records Search Pilot option (the link isn't exact for some reason, but the name is #3, so click on that).  If I had waited 13 years, I wouldn't have had to wait for the snail mail, pay for the copy or receive a copy with the red stamp. However, this one is also off center as well.  Can't do anything about that...

"The Happiest Man in Town" Built his House

One of the early discoveries on my Wilder line was found in the Historical Society of Cheshire County, New Hampshire.  I made at least four trips, because there was a wealth of information, including seeing the house my 4x grandfather, Able Wilder built and his cemetery stone.

"HANDERSON HOUSE : 124 Washington Street Circa 1827 Abel Wilder, called the "happiest man in town,"settled in Keene near the close of the 18th century, kept a wheelwright shop, was jail keeper, and built several houses on what was then called Prison Street.

The one numbered 124 Washington Street was built by Wilder and bought in 1833 by Phineas Handerson, the first to practice law in Chesterfield."  The above information is from, Smith, Marjorie W., Historic Homes of Cheshire County New Hampshire, Brattleboro, VT: Griswold Offset Printing, 1968. Pg. 57.

I wonder what made him so happy. He died at age 91.

124 Washington St., Keene, N.H. (spring and fall)

But, it wasn't all that easy researching him.  The death record stated he died in Bridport, Addison Co., Vermont...a rather long way from Keene, New Hampshire.  Of course, we went to Bridport, roamed the cemetery, and found stones for his daughter and other family members, but nothing for the 91-year-old. Well, wouldn't you know, his family brought the body back to Keene, and he was buried about 2 miles from the Historical Society!

Follow Friday -- How can 3 Death Records be wrong?

The three death certificates shown below, for the same person, are not 100% correct.  The first one, has my 2nd great-grandmother's name totally wrong. She is listed as Fanny McGleason Pool and it should be Frances "Fanny" M. Gleason Poole (4 errors in the name).  Since I liked the colorful green record, I made a quick call to Brookline, Massachusetts to get a corrected copy.

Corrected copy below.

Corrected copy, but the last name is still wrong.

There is no listing for the maiden name of mother, although it was clearly on the original record.

Name of cemetery isn't listed, although it was clearly on the original record.

Original state Death Record, obtained several years later was also filled with errors.

Name should be Frances M. Gleason

Husband's name should be spelled as William F. Poole

Maiden name of mother is incorrect, should be Fanny Belden Hubbard (error of informant)

Informant's name should be spelled as William F. Poole (son)

(Clearly the informant didn't proof this, as he would have noticed his name spelled wrong.)

Lesson learned:  get a copy of the original, but don't assume it is correct.

Note:  See Reflections From the Fence Blog article called "Reality Check - Why Death Certificates Tend To Have Errors"

Early Marriage Record for Wisconsin

Whenever I am doing research in a new state, I always check out the Red Book, one of the few reference books I own.  It is red, and covers "American State, County, and Town Sources." Since Wisconsin is one of my "new" states, I read the certain sections that pertain to what I want to know about Wisconsin.  And, I always look at the map as well as check out the bordering states. There is also information about Vital Records for each particular state.  I would assume this book is known to all professional genealogists, but new genealogists might find the book helpful.  I believe many libraries would have it. Five years ago it cost me $29.95, and I'm on my second book.

It looks like I was pretty lucky because according to the section on Vital Records for Wisconsin, some marriage applications were issued as early as the 1820s in some counties, then in 1852 the state directed them to record births and deaths, but some towns ignored this request. Not until 1878 did the state get strict regarding adherence to the law. The online Wisconsin vital records index was extremely helpful, because it listed my ancestor, which in turn, prompted me to order it a copy for $15.

Within a few weeks I received the marriage record for 1841.  This record was for my recently former "brick wall" person and although I had the marriage date, it is nice to have a uncertified copy.*

* At the bottom, stamped in red is the following: Uncertified Copy  Not valid for certification purposes.  It is illegal to make this document available to the public in electronic format.

New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900

When the http://www.familysearch.org/ site had a notification, in the late summer of 2009, announcing that they now had the New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900, now online, I almost fell off my chair. These records are currently located from the Search Records Tab, then drop down tab, Record Search Pilot at the main page of the Family Search site, and a few more steps. To make it easier for those search these records, the direct link is: http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=collectionDetails;c=1542861 .


I don't have many direct lines in New Hampshire, but do have a lot of names of those born in the state. They are mostly siblings or others somehow related to my ancestors. I think the state of New Hampshire has a very confusing method of putting their records on microfilm. It is not in alphabetical order, that's for sure. No matter how many times, I asked the staff at the New England Historic and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) how to find a name, I never was able to grasp the method in the wonderful world of discovering birth records from New Hampshire. I soon gave up with that state.


Back to almost falling off my chair. Once at the New Hampshire site, I did one quick entry of a first and last name, and instantly, it brought up the person I was interested in. Simple and so easy. Getting the results was something I never thought I'd be able to get from the microfilm. Quickly, I did a custom report through my Family Tree Maker data base. There were about 150 names of those born in New Hampshire. Sure, I was able to cross off those born after 1900, but that amounted to about five people. With my list of seven pages, I got right to it.


Finding a record not only allows you to view the actual record, but also copy a modified transcript of the record directly to your data base. This includes the name, date, and location of birth, parent's names and film number. I am now done entering 105 sources for my New Hampshire lines, and am patiently waiting for the marriages and deaths for that state. I truly thank the volunteers who tackled these records.