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Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Genealogy

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City and town of Boston in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Also shows annexed towns of Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roxbury, and West Roxbury.



This is a historical and genealogical guide to the town and city of Boston. You will find help with town histories, vital records, city directories, cemetery records and cemeteries, churches, deeds (i.e. land records), town and city records, newspapers, maps, and libraries. There are general history and genealogy topics such as ward boundaries, census, street guides, and much more. There are detailed guides for the towns Boston annexed: Brighton (1807-1874); Charlestown (1630-1874); Dorchester (1630-1870); Hyde Park (1868-1912); Roxbury (1630-1868); and West Roxbury (1851-1874).

Town Information[edit | edit source]

Description[edit | edit source]

Historical Boston, then only the land of a peninsula, was a faction of the land mass it is today after massive land-fill projects of the mid- to late-19th century (the rubble from the Great Boston Fire of 1872 help fill in the waterfront) and the annexing of six towns from two counties (as listed above). Boston was first settled by passengers of the Winthrop Fleet of 1630 who first lodged in Charlestown. These first settlers were Puritans, the religious group wanting to change the Church of England from working inside the church. Called the "City on the Hill" by Gov. John Winthrop, the "hub" as we now call it became the center of trade, education, government, wealth, and power. It was the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, then the Royal colony of Massachusetts, and finally the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Shortly after its settlement, Boston had become a major settlement. It was the largest town in British North America for the first hundred years. Because of that, the town and later city became a draw for immigrants from around the world. Though the first two hundred years saw mostly English arrivals, Scots, Irish, and French were found here, too. It was after 1820 that immigrants from other European countries started arriving in large numbers. The gate was opened by the Irish fleeing the potato famine in 1847. The next wave included more Irish (their dominance starting in the early 20th century is a testament to their number), but also Germans, Italians, and Syrians. The end of the century saw French Canadians, Russian and Polish Jews, and Swedes arriving. The 21st century brought African Americans from the South, Southeast Asian immigrants (especially Chinese and Vietnamese), Muslims, and Puerto Ricans. Many other ethnicities can be found in pockets all over Boston, and walking in downtown one will likely here many languages being spoken.

Historical Data[edit | edit source]

The basic data is from the "Historical Data" publication series[1] with additions from various sources.

Associated names

Boston at times was called Shawmut, Tremont, and Trimountaine.

Sections (excluding most of the named squares) in downtown Boston [see annexed towns listed above for names in those areas] include Andrew Square, Back Bay, Bay Village, Beacon Hill, Boston Common, Boston Harbor, Chinatown, City Point, Copley Square, East Boston (Eastie), Faneuil Hall, Fenway, Financial District, The Flat (i.e. of Beacon Hill), Fort Point, Government Center, Haymarket Square, Kenmore, Leather District, Logan Airport, Longwood, North End, Scollay Square, Seaport, South End, South Bay, South Boston (Southie), Washington Village, and West End.

Islands that are currently part of Boston are: Apple Island*, Belle Island (formerly Hog's Island)*, Bird Island*, Breed's Island*, Calf Island (formerly Apthrop Island), Castle Island*, Deer Island*, Gallop's Island, George's Island, Governor's Island, Great Brewster Island, Green Island (or North Brewster Island), Little Brewster Island, Little Calf Island, Long Island, Lovell's Island, Middle Brewster Island, Nixes mate, Noddle Island*, Outer Brewster Island, Rainsford Island, Shag Rocks, Spectacle Island, The Graves, Thompson's Island, and Wood Island*.

[* denotes land-fill has made it part of the mainland now and the others are part of the Boston Harbor Island National Recreation Area]

Border changes
Dates Events
7 Sept. 1630 The first reference was "that Trimountaine shalbe called Boston ...." [Mass. Bay Rec., 1: 75]
7 Nov. 1632 It was "... ordered, that the necke of land betwixte Powder Horne Hill & Pullen Poynte (now Winthrop) shall belonge to Boston ...." [Mass. Bay Rec., 1: 101]
4 Mar. 1633 Border between Boston and Roxbury established.
14 May 1634 "... Boston shall haue convenient inlargemt att Mount Wooliston, ... & Prsent it to the nexte Genall court ...." [Mass. Bay Rec., 1: 125]
3 Sept. 1634 It was "... ordered, that Wunetsemt shall belonge to Boston, ... as pte of that towne." [Mass. Bay Rec., 1: 125]
25 Sept. 1634 It was "... ordered, that Boston shall haue inlargemt att Mount Wooliston (now Quincy and Braintree) & Rumney Marsh (now Revere)." [Mass. Bay Rec., 1: 139]
4 Mar. 1635 Border between Boston and Dorchester, at Mount Wooliston and Wessaguscus (now Weymouth) to be determined.
Deer Island, Hog Island, Long Island, and Spectacle Island granted to Boston. [Mass. Bay Rec., 1: 139]
8 July 1635 Border between Boston and Charlestown established.
Border to be established between Boston and Saugus about Rumney Marsh (now Revere).
28 Mar. 1636 Border between Boston and Charlestown, and Boston and Dorchester established.
9 Mar. 1637 Noddle Island (the largest of five islands that made up East Boston) annexed.
6 June 1639 Border between Boston, Charlestown, and Lynn to be settled.
13 May 1640 The part called Mount Wollaston set off as the new town of Braintree.
7 Oct. 1641 Border between Boston and Roxbury established at Muddy River (now Brookline).
Border between Boston and Cambridge established.
13 Nov. 1705 The part called Muddy River set off as the new town of Brookline.
10 Jan. 1739 The parts called Winnissimet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, except Noodle Island and Hog Island, set off as the new town of Chelsea.
6 Mar. 1804 The section of Dorchester called Dorchester Neck (and now called South Boston) annexed.
4 Mar. 1822 Boston was incorporated as a city per act of 23 Feb. 1822.
22 Feb. 1825 Border between Boston and Brookline established.
25 Mar. 1834 Thompson's Island was set off from Dorchester and annexed to Boston as long as it is used for charitable purposes.
16 Mar. 1836
19 Apr. 1837 		Border between Boston and Roxbury established.
3 May 1850 Part of Roxbury annexed and border established.
21 May 1855 Part of Dorchester annexed called Washington Village.
8 May 1860 Part of Roxbury annexed and border established per act of 3 Apr. 1860.
5 Jan. 1868 City of Roxbury annexed by Boston per act of 1 June 1867.
3 Jan. 1870 Town of Dorchester annexed by Boston per act of 4 June 1869.
2 Apr. 1870 Border between Boston and West Roxbury established.
4 Nov. 1870 Part of Brookline annexed per act of 18 June 1870.
12 Apr. 1872 Mount Hope Cemetery in West Roxbury annexed to Boston.
27 May 1873 Border between Boston and Brookline established.
5 Jan. 1874 City of Charlestown annexed by Boston per act of 14 May 1873.
Town of Brighton annexed by Boston per act of 21 May 1873.
Town of West Roxbury annexed by Boston per act of 29 May 1873.
8 May 1874 Part of Brookline annexed.
29 May 1874 Border between Boston and Newton established.
1 July 1875 Part of Newton annexed by Boston per act of 5 May 1875.
27 May 1890 Border between Boston and Brookline established.
4 May 1891 Border between Boston and Somerville established.
13 Apr. 1894 Border between Boston and Brookline established.
29 Mar. 1898 Border between Boston and Newton established.
Border between Boston and Cambridge established.
1 Apr. 1898 Border between Boston and Hyde Park established.
13 May 1898 Border between Boston and Newton established.
29 Mar. 1910 Border between Boston and Cambridge established.
1 Jan. 1912 Town of Hyde Park annexed by Boston per act of 24 May 1911.
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Historical Events[edit | edit source]

Date Event
in 1614 Capt. John Smith surveyed the coast of New England, created his famous map, and labelled the Boston peninsula Shawmut.
circa 1618 An epidemic likely of smallpox brought to New England by early European explorers decimated the local population by 75% leaving many villages uninhabited. The closest village to Boston was in present-day Jamaica Plain.
in 1625 Rev. William Blaxton moved up from the Weymouth area when his company returned to England and he settled on the western slope of what we call Beacon Hill.
in 1630 The John Winthrop fleet of almost 1000 English landed in Salem. Most that survived made their way to Trimountain, their name for Boston as it had three hills [see a map of the hills overlaid on a modern map showing the ridge and ridge of now Beacon Hill, Copp's Hill, and the southern Fort Hill that is no longer extant]. Many in the following year leave to establish other nearby towns.
in 1630 Winthrop established the cemetery now called King's Chapel Burying Ground.
in 1635 Boston Latin Grammar School established.
in 1640 First smallpox outbreak.
in 1647 Yellow fever outbreak in Massachusetts.
in 1653 First great fire in Boston.
in 1657 Measles epidemic.
in 1666 Second smallpox outbreak.
27 Nov. 1676 Second great fire destroyed 45 buildings in the North End including the North Meeting House.
1677-1678 Third smallpox outbreak.
29 Oct. 1679 Third great fire destroying 150 buildings.
in 1683 Fourth great fire.
in 1687 Measles epidemic.
1689-1690 Fourth smallpox outbreak.
in 1690 Fifth great fire on Hanover Street in the North End.
19 June 1691 Sixth great fire in North Square in the North End.
in 1702 Fifth smallpox outbreak left 313 persons dead.
11 Mar. 1702 Seventh great fire at Dock Square.
2 Oct. 1711 Eighth great fire destroyed the Town House, Meeting House, and many buildings leaving 110 families homeless.
May 1713 Bread riots involving more than 200 people protesting the high prices of bread. Similar smaller riots occurred in April 1710 and October 1711. These events led to laws against price-fixing, exporting grain during shortages, and a public granary.
in 1713 Measles epidemic.
in 1721 Sixth smallpox outbreak where 5759 persons caught the disease "in the natural way" and only 844 died from it. Inoculations were done and a list of families involved are listed in a copied manuscript at the Boston Public Library, Ms.B.10.2(4) enumerating the heads of families, number with smallpox, natural way, died, by inoculation, died, strangers, now sick, removed, and exposed. Learn more about inoculation in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences.
in 1729 Measles epidemic.
in 1730 Seventh smallpox outbreak included about 4000 persons and nearly 500 died.
in 1739-1740 Measles epidemic.
9 Dec. 1747 The courthouse and many buildings were destroyed by fire, though all the records were saved.
in 1752 A smallpox epidemic affected 7669 person (about half the population). Few of the inoculated persons died but this left 569 dead.
in 1754 Outbreak of smallpox.
18 Nov. 1755 Earthquake struck the region centered on Cape Ann.
20 Mar. 1760 Fire destroyed 349 buildings, several ships, and the Quaker Meeting House.
13 Jan. 1761 Faneuil Hall and several building burned.
5 Mar. 1770 Boston Massacre.
19 Apr. 1775 Siege of Boston by British troops began.
17 Mar. 1776 Evacuation of Boston by British troops.
in 1776 Outbreak of smallpox.
in 1778 Outbreak of smallpox.
20 Apr. 1787 A fire destroyed the Hollis Street Church and about 100 other buildings.
30 July 1794 Fire destroyed 90 buildings and 7 ropewalks.
21 Nov. 1832 Fire destroyed part of the State House on State Street.
in 1857 Filling in of Back Bay which was completed in 1882.
in 1872 Another smallpox epidemic in Boston.
9 Nov. 1872 The great fire burned 776 buildings covering 65 acres. Read a brief history of the Great Fire of 1872 or [1].
15 May 1894 Roxbury Conflagration destroyed or damaged 206 buildings.
1901-1903 Last smallpox outbreak. Read more about this in The New England Journal of Medicine.
24 Dec. 1911 Boston Molasses Company fire.
4 July 1913 Firecrackers started a fire destroying 31 building around Leroy Street in Dorchester.
15 Jan 1919 The Great Boston Molasses Disaster. A tank holding millions of gallons of molasses burst, sending a flood of molasses through the streets of the North End. A definitive narrative is Stephen Puleo, Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 (Boston, 2004), xi, 263 pp., WorldCat (Other Libraries).
28 Nov. 1942 Cocoanut Grove Fire in nightclub killed 492 people and resulted in the change in fire codes for the city.
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Town Histories[edit | edit source]

Works written on the town include:

Boston - General
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Back Bay
  • also see Beacon Hill
  • William A. Newman and Wilfred E. Holton, Boston's Back Bay: The Story of America's Greatest Nineteenth-Century Landfill Project (Boston, 2006), xiv, 228 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Beacon Hill
East Boston
Harbor Island
North End
  • Alex R. Goldfled, The North End: A Brief History of Boston's Oldest Neighborhood (Charleston, S.C., 2009), 190 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Stephen Puleo, The Boston Italians (Boston, 2007), xv, 323 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Anthony V. Riccio, Boston's North End, Images and Recollections of an Italian-American Neighborhood (Guilford, Conn., 2006), xii, 180 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Arnold A. Wieder, The Early Jewish Community of Boston's North End (Waltham, Mass., 1962), 100 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
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South Boston
South End
  • Russ Lopez, Boston's South End: The Clash of Ideas in a Historic Neighborhood (Boston, 2015), xiv, 286 pp.
    Not WorldCat entry; Not at FS Library.
Clubs and Social Registers
  • Search online for the histories and directories of the many social clubs in Boston.
  • Social Register, Boston (New York, various years).
    Digital version at Internet Archive various editions.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • The Clubs of Boston containing a complete List of Members and Addresses of all Boston Clubs of Social and Business Prominence (Boston, 1891), 442 pp. with map.
    Digital version at Internet Archive (1888 ed.).
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Guidebooks
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Immigration - Ethnicity

[For Italian, also see the North End section]

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Topographical - Pictorial
  • Boston's Growth. A Bird's Eye View of Boston's Increase in Territory and Population From Its Beginning to the Present (Boston, 1910), 45 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive and Hathi Trust.
    Not on WorldCat; Not at FS Library.
  • Boston - One Hundred Years a City. A Collection of Views Made from Rare Prints and Old Photographs Showing the Changes Which Have Occurred in Boston During One Hundred Years of its Existence as a City, 1822-1922 (Boston, 1922), xii, 49 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Thomas Pemberton, "A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, 1794" in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, for the year 1794, 3: 241-[304].
    Digital version at Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Nancy S. Seasholes, Gaining Ground A History of Landmaking in Boston (Cambridge, Mass., 2003), xiv, 533 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Charles Shaw, A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston, from the first settlement of the town to the present period : with some account of its environs (Boston, 1817), 311 pp.
    Digital version at Ancestry ($).
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, A Topographical and Historical Description of Boston (Boston, 1871; 3rd ed., 1890), lvi, 720 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive (1871 ed.).
    WorldCat (Other Libraries) (1871 ed.); Not at FS Library.
  • Annie Haven Thwing, The Crooked and Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston (Boston, 1920; 2nd ed., 1925; Tercentenary ed., 1930), xi, 282 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive, Ancestry ($).
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Library CD no. 1693 with in-library link.
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Boston Massachusetts Town and City Records[edit | edit source]

Vital Records[edit | edit source]

To understand the issues with the vital records for Boston, we need to understand its history. Massachusetts Bay enacted laws early on for the recording of vital events. The town of Boston dutifully recorded these events. From a study by Lemuel Shattuck using the baptismal records, he determined that the practice of civil recording of births saw a slow and steady decline since 1725 when the reported rate of was 3.3% (religious baptisms were near 5%) and down to 2.0% by 1845 (i.e. less than half of what should be expected). Turning to marriages, Shattuck found that the rate of marriages was relatively unchanged all the way up to 1845. He observed two gaps that should be noted. From 1663 to 1689, not one marriage was recorded in the civil records, and from 1751 to 1761 only a few marriages were found. Deaths were well recorded in the early years, but like the marriages, none appear from 1663 to 1689. A separate volume was used after this period and seem to be representative until 1719. But, from 1719 to 1810, few deaths were recorded. In 1810, recording was done by the Superintendent of Burials so then appear complete from then forward. Shattuck found that from 1704 to 1774, sextons made weekly returns to the newspapers for the number who died each week. In this period as the town grew, the annual average death toll rose from 334 to 521, so many thousands of deaths were not recorded. These gaps and issues should be kept in mind when using Boston vital records. [See Lemuel Shattuck, Report to the Committee of the City Council Appointed to Obtain the Census of Boston for the Year 1845 (Boston, 1846), 126-133, Ap. 71-73.]

For an understanding on the creation of the earliest vital records for Boston, see the articles "Boston Vital Records: 1630-1650" and "Boston Vital Records: 1651-1657" in the Great Migration Newsletter, 12 [2003]: 19-22; 18 [2009]: 9-10, 16, available in many libraries and online only to subscribers at GreatMigration.org ($).

To search the state copy of these city vital records, see Massachusetts Genealogy Guide to Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1920.

Online records[edit | edit source]

Births[edit | edit source]

Marriage[edit | edit source]

indexes; Births, 1882-1895; Marriages, 1849-1895; Out-of-town marriages, 1858-1895; Deaths, 1849-1890 (individual years and indexes, plus out-of-town deaths, removals, interment, and stillborns)

Death[edit | edit source]


Original records

Boston City's Registry Division
1 City Hall Square - Rm. 213
Boston MA 02201-2006
Phone 617-635-4175

Microfilm of the originals created by the FamilySearch Library:
Note: These records below (except for births after 1920) are browsable (i.e. not yet indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.

Birth records
Marriage records
Birth and Marriage certificates
Out-of-town marriages
Marriage indexes
Death records
Out-of-town deaths
Death indexes
Boston Female Asylum, records (inc. names, finance, minutes, some baptisms, deaths, and subscribers), 1800-1866, FS Library films 954449-954451.
Note: The "Register of Births, British Consulate at Boston, United States" on FS Library film 1494362 are births, 1871-1902, in Mass. (mostly Boston); births, 1903-1932, mostly in Mass.; and deaths, 1902-1929, most all at sea.

Microfiche of the originals created by Archive Publishing covering town records:
Note: All are part of Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620–1988 at Ancestry ($); Index.

Boston Vital Records, 1630-1849 (inc. all Suffolk Co., 1643-1660, county marriages, 1716-1731, church marriages, 1751-1761), marriage intentions, 1707-1849, including early deaths, 1630-1848 (not found in above originals), and many indexes, on 540 fiche.
Boston Births and indexes, 1849-1881, on 234 fiche.
Boston Births and indexes, 1882-1895, on 325 fiche.
Boston Marriages and indexes, 1849-1890, on 310 fiche.
Boston Out-of-town marriages and indexes, 1858-1895, on 41 fiche.
Boston Deaths and indexes, 1849-1890, on 369 fiche.

Official state copy of vital records starting in 1841:
[Caveat: Boston did not start submitting records to the state until 1850.]
Massachusetts Archives
220 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston MA 02125
Phone 617-727-2816
Email archives@sec.state.ma.us
Hours and Directions
See the online guide for more information.

Published records - Original
Published records - Derivative
  • Robert J. Dunkle and Ann Smith Lainhart, comp., John Haven Dexter's Memoranda of the Town of Boston in the 18th & 19th Centuries (Boston, 1997), iv, 713 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 V2d.
  • Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, Deaths in Boston 1700 to 1799 (Boston, 1999), in 2 vols., xxviii, 1136 pp.
    This voume draws on the town records, coroner's records, church records, contemporary accounts, bible records, histories and genealogies, newspapers, articles in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and other town vital records.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 V2dr v. #.
Other Manuscript Records
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City Directories and Almanacs[edit | edit source]

Boston city directories are one of the most complete record of the city's adult male population, business women, and later the widows of the men previously listed. Boston was the third place to start publishing directories (after New York and Philadelphia) in 1789. They were published annually (for the most part) after 1825. The directory evolved from a simple entry (ex. Herring Ebenezer, mason and sexton, Lynde-street) to one of name, occupation and location, residence (boarding or house), and would list you if you worked in the city but lived elsewhere (then it would name the town of residence). Added features were usually a map (often not digitized and missing), lists of a few trades (such as lawyer, physician, etc.), a few civic items (fire companies, justices, etc.), and business advertisements. More categories appeared over time. By the later 1800s, when someone was being dropped because they died, their death date would be given, or moved, their new town of residence was given. By 1930, there was a very helpful reverse directory added (arranged by street). This resource ceased publication in 1981. The years published are:

1789 1796 1798 1800 1803 1805-1810
1813 1816 1818 1820-1823 1825-1975 1981

To see the publishers, page counts, and number of names indexed to 1886, refer to the Boston Record Commissioners' Report, 10: 164-165.

The entire run of directories was microfiched at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in 1992 and made available through many great libraries including the Boston Public Library, FamilySearch Library, Library of Congress, Massachusetts State Library, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society Library in Boston.

Online copies of these Boston directories can be found on:

  • Internet Archive
  • Google Books
  • Boston Athenaeum, 1789-1900 (in progress)
  • Ancestry ($). This is the first one everyone turns to as they created a large library of U.S. city directories from 1821 to 1989. The first caveat is that they do not have the earliest years and some of the "directories" are actually "almanacs."
  • fold3 ($), 1789-1926

The Boston Almanac started publication in 1836 as a simple almanac of climate, astrological, farm, and other tables along with a calendar. Soon, city and state officials were added along with history sections for the previous year and listings of all the streets, wharves, ward boundaries, public buildings, stage coach tables, societies and institutions, newspapers, and other handy information. The contents can change annually. The title changed over time:

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List of Residents[edit | edit source]

For list of residents age 20 years of age and over, starting in year 1901 through 1946. Each precinct separately arranged with streets and places in alphabetical order of street name.


Historical Maps[edit | edit source]

This is a list of map resource sites of particular interest to genealogists, and is not an effort to trace the vast cartographic history of Boston in full. There will be many maps of Boston in every major library including the FamilySearch Library. Consult the catalog for the particular holdings of a library. The earliest map specifically of Boston is by Capt. John Bonner in 1722. There are many versions available on the internet, one is at Boston Public Library. Since Boston covers a majority of Suffolk County, look for Suffolk County Atlases.

Reference Books
  • "List of Maps of Boston, Published Between 1614 and 1822" printed as Appendix J of the Thirty-fifth Annual Report of the City Engineer Boston for the year 1901 (Boston, 1902), pp. 129-161.
    Digital version at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries) [rep.]; Not at FS Library.
  • List of maps of Boston published subsequent to 1600, copies of which are to be found in the possession of the city of Boston or other collectors of the same ... February 1, 1904 (Boston, 1904), 95 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive.
    This is another reprint of the 1902 list with supplementary list.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Alex Krieger and David Cobb, Mapping Boston (Cambridge, Mass., 1999), xiv, 278 pp.
    A series of historical and current maps with essays by Anne Mackin discussing the important events and landmarks of the day.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Maps Online
  • Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public Library.
    This is the largest single collection of Boston maps with a listing of 584.
  • Boston Redevelopment Authority, The Boston Atlas.
    This can be a complicated site for the first time user. Click on one of the three viewer choices and wait for the new window to open and fill in with a map. Any of the three will allow a search of a specific address. Here, we are concerned about the historical overlays only. The user can select (or unselect) any overlay desired. For the Flash viewer, unselect all except the historic map (choice of 1775, 1814, 1826, or 1881). The two Java viewers are similar. Unselect all items in the menu except the last. Click on the named box and an extensive menu with sub-menus will appear. The largest collection of historical maps is under "Future Boston Map Collection". Play around until you find what you need.
  • Library of Congress, American Memory project, Boston maps.
  • David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.
    Scroll part way down to the Boston section and then click on "Launch GIS Professional Browser" to view historical maps.
  • Sanborn maps, Boston, 1885.
  • Tufts Digital Collections and Archives, Boston Streets: Mapping Directory Data
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Historical Wards[edit | edit source]

Introduction

The town of Boston was divided into companies, or districts, to help keep the order, fighting fires, etc. The concept of the Ward was first codified in 1735. The Overseers of the Poor were having difficulty covering the whole town and proposed to divide the town into twelve wards. The freemen agreed and added that these wards would be the districts for "military considerations," too. The division was given to the Overseers to create and the resulting report for such divisions was accepted by the freeman with the caveat that these boundaries would stay in force until the town decided to change them.[See A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston Containing the Boston Records from 1729 to 1742 (Boston, 1885) [i.e. v. 12], 127, 131-133.] The next change in the ward boundaries came in 1805. [See Lemuel Shattuck, Report to the Committee of the City Council Appointed to Obtain the Census of Boston for the Year 1845 (Boston, 1846), Ap. 4-10, wrongly dating the first division as 1746.]

When Boston incorporated as a city in 1822. Wards were drawn and redefined in 1822, 1838, 1850, 1865, 1875, 1895, 1914, and 1924. The 1875 was set aside by the court and never officially used. These ward boundaries were defined in A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822-1890, Roxbury, 1846-1867, Charlestown, 1847-1873 and of the selectmen of Boston, 1634-1822, also of various other town and municipal officers (Boston, 1891), xxxix, 270 pp. (Boston, 2nd ed., 1909), 402 pp., at pages 7 through 40 [see WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library; online at Internet Archive, Hathi Trust (1909 ed.); and in the Municipal Register for 1912, 1924, and 1927 [WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library; online links for all years, see the Boston Public Library].

It is important to understand these changes ward boundaries as they are referenced in city directories, census, tax records, and other documents. Voter lists and governmental representation was established by wards. The following is a description and associated map to help learn where these boundaries were. Note that the descriptions are the official boundary and the maps sometimes vary from the descriptions (Note: boundaries and colored areas may differ).

Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914

Boston Wards in 1735
A New Plan of ye Great Town of Boston (1743) with ward boundaries
Note: 15 churches in the city
Ward Description Boundary
Ward No. 1 Copps Hill area Starting at the Charlestown Ferry and going up Prince Street (including both sides) to Gee's Corner, left on Salem Street, right on Charter Street, left on Henchman's Lane across Lyn Street to the harbor.
Ward No. 2 Union Wharf area Starting at the harbor (at the end of No. 1 above) up Henchman's Lane, right diagonally across Charter Street [description called this Elder Barker's Corner], along Salem Street [as far as the Rev. Dr. Cutler's], left on Love Street, left on North Street, right on Foster's Lane, across Ship Street to the harbor and to which is added Rumney Marsh [now Chelsea].
Ward No. 3 Fleet Street area Starting at the harbor (at the end of No. 2 above) up Foster's Lane, left on North Street, right on Love Lane, left on Salem Street [to Peirce's Corner though called Gee's Corner for No. 1], left on Prince Street through Bell Alley, right at Clark's Square [Mr. Mountfort's Corner and so the Dolphin Tavern] to Fish Street, and at that point, out to the harbor.
Ward No. 4 Center of North End [Since the description does not match the map, we give the map description first] Starting at Fish Street up Clark's Square, left on Bell Alley through Prince Street, left on Back Street (both sides) to the Mill Creek Bridge, sharp left out Middle Street, right on Wood Lane to Fish Street and the beginning. [From the northeast corner of Prince Street, running down the south side as far as Boucher's Corner, and then on both sides of the way to the Mill Bridge, and from thence on the west side of Middle Street to Prince Street, taking in the Square from Cox's Corner, down the north side of Wood Lane, through Bell Alley, to Capt. Wadsworth's.]
Ward No. 5 Christopher Columbus Park north Starting at Wood Lane, left on Middle Street across the Mill Bridge, left on Union Street to the town dock and out to the harbor, including all of Ann Street and Fish Street to Wood Lane and to include the Red Lion Wharf on Fish Street at the corner of Clark's Square.
Ward No. 6 Lower Hanover Street toward City Hall Starting at the Mill Pond and up the Mill Creek to the Mill Bridge, right on Hanover Street, left on Union Street, right on Wing's Lane [to Bradford's Corner], left on Hanover Street to the "Orange Tree", right on Sudbury Street, left on Hawkins Street [description called it Kneeland's Lane] to the corner of it, then right out the Mill Pond to include Jackson's Still House.
Ward No. 7 Beacon Hill and its back Starting just west of the Jackson's Still House (above) on the Mill Pond and back to the same corner on Hawkins Street, and down it, right on Sudbury Street, right on Southack's Court to its end, then drawn a line southwest over the hill [Beacon Hill] to a point where Southack Street and Beacon Street meet -- all land west of this line including Barton's Point.
Ward No. 8 Faneuil Hall to Long Wharf Starting at the town dock near the intersection of Union and Ann Streets, up Wing's Lane, left on Hanover Street, left on Queen Street around the corner through King Street and out Long Wharf.
Ward No. 9 Old South Meeting House north [From the description not found on the map] Starting at Mr. Bowdoin's Corner on Tremont Street taking in the western side of Beacon Street, down to the bottom of the Common, down School Street, right on Marlborough Street, left on Milk Street, left on Horn Street [Taunan Lane on map], right on Water Street to Oliver's Dock, left on Mackerel Lane, left on King Street through Queen Street to the beginning.
Ward No. 10 Franklin Street area Starting at Mr. Secretary Willard's [on Common Street?], down Rawson's Lane, crossing over Penniman's Corner [i.e. right on Marlborough Street], left on Summer Street, left on Cow Lane, over the Hill [i.e. Fort Hill, so right on Gibbs's Lane, left on Battery March] to Halloway's Shipyard, [assumed up Water Street, left on Taunan Lane, and right] to Milk Street, across South Meeting House Square [i.e. right on Marlborough Street], left on School Street to the beginning [the corner of Tremont and Common Streets].
Ward No. 11 South of Summer Street Starting at the Rawson's Lane and going down Common Street, left on West Street, diagonally across Newbury Street and down Pond Street, left on Blind Street onto Summer Street to Barton's Rope Walk [not on map], along the harbor [not stated so] to Mr. Hubbard's [wharf], up the hill [i.e. Gibbs's Lane], left on Cow Lane, up Summer Street, right on Marlborough Street, left on Rawson's Lane to the beginning.
Ward No. 12 West Street south Starting at the School House on the Common, down West Street, diagonally across Newbury Street and down Pond Street, left on Blind Lane onto Summer Street to Bull's Wharf -- all land south of this line.
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914


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Boston Wards in 1805
A New Plan of Boston (1806)
Note: 19 churches in the city
Ward Description Boundary
Ward No. 1 Copps Hill area Starting at the Charles River Bridge onto Prince Street, left on North Street to the Winnisimit Ferry.
Ward No. 2 Christopher Columbus Park and north Starting at the Winnisimit Ferry up North Street through Middle Street, left on Proctor's Lane to the Town Slip.
Ward No. 3 Central North End Starting at the Charles River Bridge onto Prince Street, right on Middle Street, left on Proctor's Lane to the Town Slip (as the northern border) and Mill Creek and causeway (as the southern border) -- all land in between.
Ward No. 4 Quincy Market area Starting at the Mill Creek and onto Hanover Street, left on Court Street passed Pemberton Hill and around through State Street and out Long Wharf.
Ward No. 5 North Station area Starting at the Mill Creek and onto Hanover Street, right to Southack's Court, right on Bulfinch Street to Bowdoin Square, left up Cambridge Street, right on Lynde Street and Leverett Street, right on the causeway to the extension of Mill Creek.
Ward No. 6 Mass. General Hospital area Starting from the causeway down Leverett Street through Lynde Street and through Hancock Street, right on Myrtle Street, right on South Russell Street, left on May Street to the water.
Ward No. 7 State House and the flat of Beacon Hill Starting at the Charles River and up May Street, right on South Russell, left on Myrtle Street, left on Hancock Street, right on Cambridge Street through Bowdoin Square, right on Bulfinch Street, left on Southack's Court, right on Tremont Street, right on Park Street, left on Beacon Street to the Charles River.
Ward No. 8 School Street to Post Office Square area Starting at the Long Wharf and up State Street through Court Street, left on Tremont Street, left on Bromfield Lane, right on Marlborough Street, left on Milk Street to the harbor.
Ward No. 9 Rowe's Wharf area Starting at the harbor and up Milk Street, left on Federal Street, right on High Street, left on Summer Street to the harbor.
Ward No. 10 Downtown Crossing area Starting at Common Street down Bromfield Lane, left on Marlborough Street, right on Milk Street, right on Federal Street, right on High Street, diagonally across and up Pond Street through West Street, right on Common Street to the beginning.
Ward No. 11 Leather District - Chinatown to the Common Starting at the harbor and up Summer Street, veer left onto Pond Street through West Street, left on Common Street onto Pleasant Street [??], left on Elliot Street, left on Orange Street, right on Beach Street and across Front Street to the harbor.
Ward No. 12 South of the Common along Washington Street and South Boston Starting at the Charles River Basin across Elliot Street, left on Orange Street, right on Beach Street and across Front Street to the harbor -- all land south of this line and South Boston included.
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914


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Boston Wards in 1822
Plan of Boston (1826) with ward boundaries - colored section were proposed new wards for 1832
Note: 35 churches in the city
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 1 Copp's Hill area From Winnesimett Ferry (at the northeast point), then westerly along North and Middle to Prince Street, northerly side of Prince to Thacher Street to easterly side of Medford Street to the river. [Note: Four churches]
Ward No. 2 Lewis's Wharf area From Winnesimett Ferry (at the north point), then southwesterly along North and Middle on the easterly side to Cross Street, then along the north side of Cross Street to the harbor. [Note: Three churches]
Ward No. 3 North Station / Mill Pond area From Medford Street at the river along the southerly side of Medford, Thacher, and Prince Streets, then the western side of Middle to Cross Street; From the town dock through Market Square to Union Street on the northeasterly side to Hanover Street, along the west side of Hanover to Friend Street, then northeasterly side of Friend to the river. [Note: Two churches]
Ward No. 4 Strip from Charles River Dam to Long Wharf plus the islands From the river on the southwesterly side of Friend to Hanover Streets, east on Hanover Street on the southerly side to through Market Square and to the Town Dock, and out to the end of Long Wharf; including all the islands (670 inhabitants); at the head of Long Wharf west on the northerly side of State Street, through Court Street, Bowdoin Square, and Cambridge Street, north of Staniford Street on the easterly side through Leverett Place along Prospect Street to where it meets Causeway Street on the river. [Note: Three churches]
Ward No. 5 West End / Mass. Gen. Hospital Starting at the last point in Ward 4 tracing back to Cambridge Street, then west on the northerly side of Cambridge to the West Boston Bridge [now Longfellow Bridge]. [Note: Two churches, the hospital, and the city court house with two gaols]
Ward No. 6 West side of Beacon Hill Starting at the West Boston Bridge (above) at the river along the south side of Cambridge Street, along the westerly side of South Russell Street to Myrtle east on the southerly side of Myrtle Street to Belknap Street, along Belknap south on the westerly side to Beacon Street, west on Beacon along the northerly side to Charles Street (at the meeting of the Charles River and the Receiving Basin that was divided by the mill dam at the Boston / Roxbury line. [Note: One church]
Ward No. 7 State House / King's Chapel area Starting on Beacon Street at the Common, north on Belknap Street on the easterly side to Myrtle Street, the west to South Russell Street, then north along that to Cambridge Street, east on Cambridge along the southerly side along Court Street to Cornhill, then west on Cornhill along the northerly side through Marlborough and Newbury Streets to West Street, northwest on West to the Common, follow the Common to the beginning along Common, Park, and Beacon Streets back to Belknap. [Note: Seven churches]
Ward No. 8 Downtown Crossing area Starting at the corner of Court Street and Cornhill (above), southwest as above to Bedford Street, southeast on Bedford to the harbor; then from Russian Wharf onto Atkinson Street north to Milk Street, then east to Adams Street, north on Adams through Kilby to State Street, then west on State to Cornhill. [Note: Seven churches]
Ward No. 9 Financial District / Fort Hill - Washington Place Starting at the northerly end of India Street on the harbor west along State Street, then south on Kilby Street through Adams Street to Milk Street, then west on Milk to Atkinson Street, then south on Atkinson to the harbor. [Note: Two churches]
Ward No. 10 North side of Chinatown Starting on the south side of Bull's Wharf on the harbor out westward along Bedford and West Streets to the Common, south and west along the Common on Common Street to Boylston Street, east along Boylston through Essex Street to Rainsford Lane, south on the lane to the harbor. [Note: Two churches]
Ward No. 11 South side of Chinatown / Tufts Medical Center Starting at Ward 10 on west side of Rainsford Lane on the harbor north to Essex Street, then west on Essex through Boylston Street, then north along Charles Street to the Mill Dam [actually, to the Roxbury line in the Receiving Basin], along the Charles to Pleasant Street a short distance then east along Elliot Street to Warren Street, then south on Warren to Orange Street, diagonally across to continue on Pine Street to the harbor. [Note: Two churches]
Ward No. 12 Boston Neck along present Washington Street and South Boston Starting at Ward 11's southern border of Pleasant to Elliot to Warren and the Pine Streets as the northern border of Ward 12, all land south of this along the Boston Neck and also South Boston. [Note: Full ward not shown on map and no churches visible]
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914


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Boston Wards in 1838
A New & Complete Map of the City of Boston (1839) [colorized by wards]
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 1 Copp's Hill area Starting at the Winnisimet (now Chelsea) Ferry along Hanover Street, right on Richmond Street through Cooper Street, across Charlestown Street and right along Beverly Street to the river.
Ward No. 2 Lewis's Wharf area Starting at the Ferry (above) along Hanover Street, left at Union Street [different on map] to Dock Square, then left on North Market Street to the City Wharf.
Ward No. 3 North Station / Mill Pond area Starting at the river [at Trull's Wharf] along Beverly Street, across Charlestown Street left along Cooper Street through Richmond Street to Hanover Street, right along Hanover Street, left onto Union Street, right onto Elm Street [different on map] to Hanover Street, diagonally across along Portland Street, left on Sudbury Street, right onto Hawkins Street, left on Chardon Street to Bowdoin Square, right on Green Street [different on map], right at Lyman Place, right on Prospect Street [not named on map] to the intersection with Causeway Street through to Lowell Street to the river.
Ward No. 4 Strip from Beacon Hill (behind State House) to Long Wharf plus East Boston and the islands Starting at the end of City Wharf going along North Market Street, through Dock Square, along Elm Street to Hanover Street, diagonally across that street to the right up Portland Street, left on Sudbury Street, right on Hawkins Street, left on Chardon Street to Bowdoin Square, right on Green Street [different on map], left on Staniford Street, right on Cambridge Street, left on Belknap Street [now Joy Street], left on Mt. Vernon Street, [missing - right on Temple Street], left on Beacon Street, left on Tremont Street, right on Court Street through State Street out Long Wharf, then including all of East Boston and all the islands in the harbor.
Ward No. 5 West End / Mass. Gen. Hospital Starting at the Cambridge Bridge on the river (now Longfellow Bridge) along Cambridge Street, left on Staniford Street across Green Street through Lyman Place, right onto Prospect Street [not named on map], across Causeway Street, and along Lowell Street to the river.
Ward No. 6 West side of Beacon Hill Starting at the Cambridge Bridge on the river (now Longfellow Bridge) along Cambridge Street, right on Belknap Street [now Joy Street], right on Beacon Street to the receiving basin.
Ward No. 7 State House / Downtown Crossing / King's Chapel area Starting at the corner of Belknap Street [now Joy Street] and Beacon Street on the Common, up Belknap Street, right on Mt. Vernon Street, [missing - right on Temple Street], left on Beacon Street, left on Tremont Street, right on Court Street through State Street, right on Congress Street, right on Milk Street, left on Federal Street, right on Franklin Street, left on Hawley Street, left on Summer Street, across Chauncey Place and Bedford Place [not labeled on map] through Rowe Street, right on Essex Street, across Washington Street along Boylston Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Park Street, left on Beacon Street to the first point.
Ward No. 8 Financial District / Fort Hill - Washington Place On the harbor at Long Wharf out along State Street, left on Congress Street, right on Milk Street, left on Federal Street, left on Berry Street, right on Atkinson Street to the harbor west of the Russia Wharf.
Ward No. 9 Chinatown North area Starting at and including Hobb's Wharf [Lloyd's Wharf on map], up Beach Street, right on Washington Street, right on Essex Street, left on Rowe through Bedford and Chauncey Place [neither named on map], left on Summer Street, right on Hawley Street, right on Franklin Street, right on Federal Street, left on Berry Street, right on Atkinson Street to the harbor west on the Russia Wharf.
Ward No. 10 South Station - Chinatown area Starting at Hobb's Wharf above [Lloyd's Wharf on map], up Beach Street, right on Washington Street, left on Boylston Street along the Common, left on Pleasant Street and left again on Eliot Street [slightly different on map], right onto Carver Street, left on Pleasant Street, right onto Washington Street, left on Indiana Street [Distilhouse on map], right across the railroad tracks on Harrison Avenue [Front Street on map], and left on the new road to the Cove [Orange Street on the map] to the south side of Guild and Cowdin's Wharf.
Ward No. 11 The Neck - Central South End area Starting at the corner of Boylston and Pleasant streets, down Pleasant Street and left again on Eliot Street [slightly different on map], right onto Carver Street, left on Pleasant Street, right onto Washington Street, left on Indiana Street [Distilhouse on map], right across the railroad tracks on Harrison Avenue [Front Street on map], and left on the new road to the Cove [Orange Street on the map] to the south side of Guild and Cowdin's Wharf. The ward being all land south and west of this line to the Roxbury town border.
Ward No. 12 South Boston All of South Boston.
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914


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Boston Wards in 1850
Plan of Boston Comprising a Part of Charlestown and Cambridge (1851) [colorized wards]
New Map of Boston ... with the new boundaries of the wards (1851)
Note: 83 churches in the city
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 1 The North End Starting at the end and including all of the Eastern Packet Pier on the harbor and running across and up Richmond Street, right on Salem Street, left on Cooper Street, crossing Charlestown Street diagonally right onto Beverly Street out to the river along and including Trull's Wharf. [Note: Eleven churches]
Ward No. 2 East Boston and the harbor islands Including all that part of the city called East Boston and all the islands in the harbor. [Note: Five churches]
Ward No. 3 North Station area Starting between the Fitchburg Railroad depot and Trull's Wharf on the river and out along Beverly Street across Charlestown Street and left onto Cooper Street, right on Salem Street, left on Richmond Street, right on Hanover Street, right on Court Street through Bowdoin Square and onto Green Street, right on Leverett Street, verse right onto Causeway Street, and left on Lowell Street in a line passed the Boston & Lowell Railroad depot to the river. [Note: Six churches]
Ward No. 4 Government Center to Long Wharf Starting at the harbor next to, but not including, the Eastern Packet Pier and up Richmond Street, left on Hanover Street, right on Court Street through Bowdoin Square and onto Green Street, left on Staniford Street, diagonally across Cambridge Street onto Temple Street through Mount Vernon Street through Park Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Winter Street, left on Washington Street, right on Milk Street across India Street, and out and including Central Wharf. [Note: Thirteen churches and the largest part of the business district]
Ward No. 5 West End / Mass. Gen. Hospital Starting at the Cambridge Bridge and out along Cambridge Street, left on Staniford Street, left on Green Street, right on Leverett Street, and left on Lowell Street to the Boston & Lowell Railroad bridge. [Note: Three churches, Mass. Gen. Hospital, and the new county jail]
Ward No. 6 West side of Beacon Hill including State House Starting at the Cambridge Bridge and out along Cambridge Street, right on Temple Street through Mount Vernon Street, right on Beacon Street and onto Western Avenue to the river. [Note: Five churches, reservoir, State House, and the Eye and Ear Infirmary]
Ward No. 7 Financial District to Rowe's Wharf including Fort Hill Starting where the Central Wharf meets India Street and up Milk Street, left on Washington Street, right on Winter Street, left on Tremont Street, left on West Street through Bedford Street, right on Kingston Street, left on Essex Street, left on South Street, right on Summer Street and straight out to the harbor between Summer Street Wharf (not included) and Bull Wharf (included). [Note: Eleven churches]
Ward No. 8 South Station west to the Common Starting at a point between Bull and Summer Street wharfs on the harbor and up Summer Street, left on South Street, right on Essex Street, right on Kingston Street, left on Bedford Street though West Street to the Common, turn left on Tremont Street, left on Elliot Street through Kneeland Street crossing Sea Street to a point between Howe's and Emery's wharfs. [Note: Four churches]
Ward No. 9 Bay Village north to the Common - Public Garden Starting at the boundary between Roxbury and Boston on Western Avenue at the northwest corner of the planned public garden on Western Avenue through Beacon Street, right on Park Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Warren Street, right on Washington Street, right on West Castle Street and crossing Tremont Street to the Worcester Railroad bridge, then up the receiving basin to the beginning. [Note: Four churches]
Ward No. 10 Tufts Medical Center area south to the Traveler's / Herald building Starting at a point on the harbor between and including Emery's Wharf and not including Howe's Wharf across Sea Street and up Kneeland Street continuing on Elliot Street, left on Tremont Street, left on Warren Street, right on Washington Street, left on Dover Street [now East Berkeley Street] to the South Boston Bridge. [Note: Six churches]
Ward No. 11 The Neck - Central South End area Starting at the boundary between Roxbury and Boston at the Worcester Railroad bridge out across Tremont Street and down West Castle Street, right on Washington Street, and left on Dover Street [now East Berkeley Street] to the South Boston Bridge -- south and west of this line to the Roxbury border down the Neck is included in this ward. [Note: Five churches]
Ward No. 12 South Boston All that part of the city called South Boston on the Dorchester Neck including the South Boston and Free bridges. [Note: Ten churches]
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914


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Boston Wards in 1865
Plan of Boston (1867)
Note: 114 churches in the city in 1867
Note: 127 churches in the city in 1869 (with addition of Roxbury)
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 1 East Boston and the harbor islands All that part of the city called East Boston and all the islands in the harbor. [Note: Twelve churches]
Ward No. 2 The North End Starting at but not including Warren Bridge at the river along Lovejoy's Wharf, right on Causeway Street, left on Haverhill Street across Haymarket Square through Blackstone Street, left on Clinton Street to the harbor. [Note: Thirteen churches]
Ward No. 3 North Station - Mass. Gen. Hospital area Start at the Cambridge [West Boston on map] Bridge at the river and out along Cambridge Street, left on Staniford Street, left on Green Street, right on Leverett, veer right on Causeway Street to a point just passed the Fitchburg Depot and before Lovejoy's Wharf, then left to the river to the right of and including Warren Bridge. [Note: Seven churches, four railroad depots, Mass. General Hospital, a medical collage, and the county jail]
Ward No. 4 Government Center to Long Wharf Starting at the harbor and up along Clinton Street, right on Blackstone Street across Haymarket Square through Haverhill Street, left on Causeway Street, onto Leverett Street, left on Green Street, right on Staniford Street across Cambridge Street to Temple Street, left on Mount Vernon Street, right on Park Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Winter Street, left on Washington Street, right on Milk Street across India Street to the south side and including Central Wharf. [Note: Seventeen churches, city hall, county courthouse, and many businesses]
Ward No. 5 Financial District to Rowe's Wharf including Fort Hill Starting at the ending point above but excluding Central Wharf across India Street and up Milk Street, left on Washington, right on Winter Street to the Common, left on Tremont Street, left at the Masonic Temple onto Boylston Street, right on Washington Street, left on Beach Street, right on Federal Street, and left on Mount Washington Avenue to Fort Point Channel. [Note: Twelve church, two theaters, and three railroad depots]
Ward No. 6 West side of Beacon Hill including State House, Common and Public Garden Start at the Cambridge [West Boston on map] Bridge at the river and out along Cambridge Street, right on Temple Street, left on Mount Vernon Street, right on Park Street, right on Tremont and right on Boylston Street to follow along the southerly border of the Common and Public Garden, right on Arlington Street, and left out the newly planned Commonwealth Avenue to the border with the city of Roxbury and following that until to meets the river. [Note: Seven churches, the State House, reservoir, the Common, and Public Garden]
Ward No. 7 Fort Point Channel area Starting at Mount Washington Avenue on Fort Point Channel up to and turning right onto Federal Street, left on Beach Street, left on Albany Street, right on Curve Street, left on Harrison Avenue, left on Dover [now East Berkeley] Street across the Dover Street Bridge to the waterline of South Boston, following the shoreline to the point where Dorchester Avenue [Federal Street on map] and the Old Colony & Newport Railroad tracks cross, continuing out the tracks and turn left on E Street out to and across First Street to the harbor. [Note: Five churches, numerous railroad buildings, and the foundry area]
Ward No. 8 Tufts Medical Center and Chinatown Starting on the south side of the Common on Boylston Street at the junction of Carver Street and down Boylston Street, right on Washington Street, left on Beach Street, right on Albany Street, right on Curve Street, diagonally across Harrison Avenue and up Indiana Street, right on Washington Street, left on Pleasant Street, right onto Carver Street to the beginning. [Note: Eight churches, theater, and public library]
Ward No. 9 Bay Village west including southern Back Bay and northern South End Starting on Harrison Avenue at Florence Street and up Florence Street, diagonally across Washington Street and up Champman Street, left on Tremont Street, right on Berkeley Street, left on Warren Avenue, across Columbus Avenue up Newton Street [not named on map], left on the Boston & Providence Railroad tracks to the city of Roxbury border, right up the border to the newly planned Commonwealth Avenue, right on that avenue, right on Arlington Street, left Boylston Street, right on Carver Street onto Pleasant Street, right on Washington Street, left Indiana Street, right on Harrison Avenue to the beginning. [Note: Ten churches and two railroad depots]
Ward No. 10 Eastern South End At the start of Ward No. 9 above then up Florence Street, diagonally across Washington Street and up Champman Street, left on Tremont Street, right on Berkeley Street, left on Warren Avenue, left on Brookline Street to South Bay. [Note: Eight churches and piano factory]
Ward No. 11 West South End Starting at the border between the cities of Boston and Roxbury at the point where the Boston & Providence Railroad crosses and continue on the tracks east, right on Newton Street [not named on map], crossing Columbus Avenue at a diagonal onto Warren Avenue, right on Brookline Street to the South Bay and the city of Roxbury border, then west along this border through the Roxbury Canal and beyond, right traveling up the border, then right again to meet at the beginning. [Note: Seven churches, piano factory, city hospital complex, and city water and sewer plants]
Ward No. 12 South Boston All that section of the city now known as South Boston lying south of E Street and south and west of the track of the Old Colony & Newport Railroad. [Note: Eight churches, idiotic school, insane hospital, and house of correction]

Roxbury annexation adds Wards 13-15 in 1868
Plan of Boston with Additions and Corrections (1869)
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 13 Lower Roxbury east of Dudley Square Starting at and including the Roxbury Canal and following a line between Fellows Street and Harrison Avenue west along the old border between the cities of Boston and Roxbury, right up the same border just east of Hunneman Street, left on Washington Street, left at Dudley Square down Dudley Street to the border with the town of Dorchester, then left following Line Brook that is the border to the South Bay. [Note: No churches, loom, cotton, and watch factories, and the lead and gas works]
Ward No. 14 Southeast of Dudley Square to Washington Park Starting at the point where Dudley Street is crossed by the Line Brook and continuing west along that brook until reaching and continuing on Vale Street until it intersects with Lawrence Avenue, then west on the city of Boston and town of Dorchester line to a corner just southwest of Grove Hall, right to Brush Hill Turnpike [now Blue Hill Avenue] and up Seaver Street though Egleston Square [the border with West Roxbury], right on Shawmut Avenue [now Washington Street], left on Bartlett Street to Eliot Square, sharp right on Dudley Street, left on Putnam Street through Shailers Avenue through unnamed street [Cabot Street?], left on Culvert Street, right on Tremont Street, right on Hammond Street and continuing along the old border between the cities of Boston and Roxbury, right on Washington Street through Dudley Square, left on Dudley Street to the beginning. [Note: Eleven churches]
Ward No. 15 Longwood Medical Area, Mission Hill, Back of the Hill, Hyde Square, Highland Park Starting on Shawmut Avenue [now Washington Street] at the town of West Roxbury border, north along this border to the Muddy River, northeast along this river (being the border with the town of Brookline) almost to the river, right along the old border between the cities of Boston and Roxbury, right along the same border, right again and coming down to Tremont Street, right on that street , left on Culvert Street, right on an unnamed street [Cabot Street?] through Shailers Avenue and Putnam Street, right on Dudley Street, sharp left at Eliot Square and down Bartlett Street, right on Shawmut Avenue to the beginning. [Note: Two churches]
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914


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Dorchester annexation adds Ward 16 in 1870
Map of Boston from the Lastest surveys (1870)
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 16 Town of Dorchester Being all the part of the town of Dorchester before annexation.
Brighton, Charlestown, and West Roxbury annexation adds Wards 17-22 in 1873
Map of Boston, for 1874 (1874)
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 17 West Roxbury Being all the part of the town of West Roxbury before annexation.
Ward No. 18 Brookline This was to be the former town of Brookline, but Brookline declined to be annexed so this ward never existed.
Ward No. 19 Brighton Being all the part of the town of Brighton before annexation.
Ward No. 20 Charlestown Square Starting at the Charles River and going up Chapman Street, diagonally right onto Austin Street, left on Main Street, right up Green Street, right on High Street, right on Winthrop Street, left along the north side of Winthrop Square [i.e. Adams Street], right on Chestnut Street, right on Chelsea Street, sharp diagonal left on Wapping Street to the Charles River.
Ward No. 21 Bunker Hill and Navy Yard From the river follow the previous border up Wapping, Chelsea, and Chestnut streets to Winthrop Square, along the north side of the square, up High Street, and right on Pearl Street in a line down to the Mystic River.
Ward No. 22 West Charlestown Starting at the Charles River and going up Chapman Street, diagonally right onto Austin Street, left on Main Street, right up Green Street, left on High Street, and right on Pearl Street in a line down to the Mystic River - all the land northwest of this line.
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914

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Boston Wards in 1875
Map of Boston (1876)
[includes the amended border change in 1876 and shows the old borders with Roxbury and Dorchester]
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 1 Northeast East Boston Beginning at Front Street on the harbor and up Porter Street through Central Square to Border Street, and left out between Week's Wharf and Jackson's Shipyard (that is included) on the Mystic River -- all land northeast of this line and including Breed's Island.
Ward No. 2 East Boston and the harbor islands Using the line above -- all land southwest of this line and including all of the harbor islands.
Ward No. 3 Northeast Charlestown and Navy Yard Starting on the Mystic River at the extension of Pearl Street, up Pearl Street, left on High Street, left on the east side of Monument Square, right on Chestnut Street, left on Mount Vernon Avenue, right on Mount Vernon Street, left on Adams Street, right on the southwestern border of the Navy Yard to the Charles River.
Ward No. 4 West Charlestown As described, being all the land in that part called Charlestown that was not included in Wards 3 and 5.
Ward No. 5 Charlestown City Square Beginning at the Charles River at Caswell's Wharf and up the southwestern border of the Navy Yard, left on Adams Street, right up Mount Vernon Street, left on Mount Vernon Avenue onto Chestnut Street, left down the east side of Monument Square, right on High Street, left on Walker Street, diagonally across Main Street onto Lincoln Street through its extension to the border with the city of Somerville.
Ward No. 6 North End Beginning at and including the Charles River Bridge down Prince Street, right on Salem Street, diagonally across Hanover Street and left on Blackstone Street, right on North Street across Dock Square, left on Devonshire Street, left on Milk Street, left on India Street [different than map] and out and excluding India Wharf.
Ward No. 7 West End Beginning at and including the Charles River Bridge down Prince Street, right on Salem Street, diagonally across Hanover Street and left on Blackstone Street, right on North Street across Dock Square, left on Devonshire Street, right on State Street through Court Street, left on Howard Street, right on Bulfinch Street though Bowdoin Square, left onto Cambridge Street, right on Lynde Street through Leverett Street, veer right onto Causeway Street, and left on Beverly Street out to the Charles River.
Ward No. 8 Spaulding Rehab. Hospital - Suffolk County Jail Beginning at the Warren Bridge and out Beverly Street, right on Causeway Street, left on Leveret Street and through Lynde Street, right on Cambridge Street, left on Blossom Street, left on Allen Street to the Charles River.
Ward No. 9 Mass. General Hospital Starting at the Charles River and up Allen Street, right on Blossom Street, left on Cambridge Street, right on Joy Street, right on Beacon Street, right on Otter Street to the Charles River.
Ward No. 10 Public Garden / Common - State House - Downtown Crossing Starting at the northwest corner of the Public Garden east on Beacon Street, left on Joy Street, right on Cambridge Street through Bowdoin Square, right on Bulfinch Street, left on Howard Street, right on Court Street through State Street, right on Devonshire Street through Lincoln Street, right on Beach Street, left on Hudson Street, right on Kneeland Street through Eliot Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Boylston Street, and right on Arlington Street to the beginning.
Ward No. 11 Back Bay - Bay Village Beginning on the Charles River and out Otter Street, left on Beacon Street, right on Arlington Street, left on Boylston Street, right on Carver Street, left on Eliot Street, right on Warrenton Street, right on Tremont Street, veer right onto Chandler Street, lef on Berkeley Street, right on Lawrence Street, left on Dartmouth Street, right on Warren Avenue, left on West Newton Street, left on the Boston & Providence Railroad tracks, and right on West Chester Park to the Charles River.
Ward No. 12 South Station Starting at and including India Wharf, across and out India Street, left on Milk Street, right on Devonshire Street through Lincoln Street, right on Beach Street, left on Hudson Street, right on Kneeland Street through Eliot Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Boylston Street, left on Carver Street, left on Eliot Street, right on Warrenton Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Pleasant Street, right on Washington Street, left on Pine Street through Way Street, and veer right onto Broadway to the bridge at Fort Point Channel.
Ward No. 13 Northwestern side of South Boston Starting on Fort Point Channel at the Dover Street Bridge down into South Bay to the junction of the with the New York & New England Railroad and the Old Colony Railroad tracks, continuing right out the Old Colony tracks, left on D Street, right on West Sixth Street, and left on E Street out the Boston Harbor.
Ward No. 14 East end of South Boston Starting on the Boston Harbor and down E Street, left on West Broadway, right on Dorchester Street, and left on Old Harbor Street to Dorchester Bay -- all lands east of this line.
Ward No. 15 Andrew Square Starting on Dorchester Bay and up Old Harbor Street, right on Dorchester Street, left on West Broadway, left on E Street, right on West Sixth Street, left on D Street, right on the Old Colony Railroad tracts, left on the New York and New England Railroad tracks, left on the extension and then onto Willow Court, left on Dorchester Street, right on Mount Vernon Street to Dorchester Avenue, and then a straight line to Dorchester Bay.
Ward No. 16 Castle Square Starting at Fort Point Channel and up Broadway, left on Way Street through Pine Street, right on Washington Street, left on Pleasant Street, left on Tremont Street, veer right onto Chandler Street, left on Berkeley Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Milford Street through Bradford Street and through Medford Street, left on Washington Street, right on Ashland Place onto Bristol Street, left on Albany Street, and right on the Dover Street Bridge on Fort Point Channel.
Ward No. 17 East side of the South End Beginning at Fort Point Channel and South Bay at the Dover Street Bridge, left on Albany Street, right on Bristol Street through Ashland Place, left on Washington Street, right on Medford Street through Bradford Street and Milford Street, right on Tremont, left on Berkeley Street, left on Lawrence Street, left on Dartmouth Street, right on Warren Avenue, left on West Brookline Street through East Brookline Street to the South Bay.
Ward No. 18 West side of the South End Starting on the South Bay and up East Brookline Street through West Brookline Street, left on Warren Avenue, right on West Newton Street, left on the Boston & Providence Railroad tracks, left on Camden Street, right on Washington Street, left on Lenox Street, left on Fellow Street, sharp right on Northampton Street, and sharp left onto Albany Street to the Roxbury Canal and out to the South Bay.
Ward No. 19 Madison Square At Camden Street on the Boston & Providence Railroad tracks out, left on Tremont Street, right on Pynchon Street, left on Roxbury Street, left on Washington Street, and left on Camden Street to the beginning.
Ward No. 20 Dudley Square - Cottage Avenue Starting at the South Bay and up the Roxbury Canal, left on Albany Street, sharp right onto Northampton Street, sharp left on Fellow Street, right on Lenox Street, left on Washington Street, veer left on Warren Street, left on Dudley Street, right on Greenville Street, right on Blue Hill Avenue, left on Quincy Street, left on Columbia Street through Boston Street and Dorchester Street, and left on Willow Court out to South Bay.
Ward No. 21 Fort Hill - Washington Park - Grove Hall Starting at where Tremont Street crosses the Boston & Providence Railroad tracks, right on Pynchon Street, left on Roxbury Street, left on Washington Street, right on Warren Street, left on Dudley Street, right on Greenville Street, right on Blue Hill Avenue, left on Seaver Street through Egleston Square, right on Washington Street, left on Codman Avenue, sharp right on Amory Street until it meets Centre Street and the Boston & Providence Railroad tracks, and right along the tracks to the beginning.
Ward No. 22 Mission Hill to the planned Fenway and all of Brighton
[This is the 1876 amended version that added Ward 25 (Brighton) to this ward] 		Starting at the Charles River and down West Chester Park, right on the Boston & Providence Railroad tracks, right on Centre Street through Perkins Street, right on Pond Avenue to the Muddy River and border for the town of Brookline, right along this border with Brookline, left on Brighton Avenue along the northern town border and then including everything west of this point being the former town of Brighton.
Ward No. 23 West Roxbury - Roslindale - Jamaica Plain Starting at the border with the town of Brookline and down Pond Avenue, right on Perkins Street through Centre Street, right on Amory Street, left on Codman Avenue, right on Washington Street, left through Egeleston Square and Searver Street, right on Blue Hill Avenue, veer right on Back Street to the border with the town of Hyde Park -- all land west of this line.
Ward No. 24 Dorchester - Mattapan Starting at Dorchester Bay and a straight line to Dorchester Avenue, across and up Mount Vernon Street, left on Dorchester Street through Boston Street and Columbia Street, right on Quincy Street, left on Blue Hill Avenue, veer right on Back Street to the border with the town of Hyde Park, left along the town line to the Neponset River, and down the river to Dorchester Bay.
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914

Top of Page || Top of Wards


Boston Wards in 1895
Map of the City of Boston and Vicinity (1896)
An Outline Map of Boston showing the old & new ward lines also the old Congressional lines (1896) - no streets
Ward Modern Description Boundary
Ward No. 1 Northeast East Boston Starting at the harbor going up Front Street [not shown on map] and up Marion Street, left on Bennington Street through Central Square, right onto Border Street past first main pier and left out to the Mystic River -- all land northeast of this line plus Breed's Island.
Ward No. 2 East Boston and the harbor islands Using the line from above -- all land southwest of this line plus all the harbor islands.
Ward No. 3 Northeast Charlestown and Navy Yard Starting at and including Brook's Wharf on the Mystic River, across Medford Street and up Pearl Street, left on High Street along the south side of Monument Square, left up the east side of the square, right on Chestnut Street, verge left onto Mount Vernon Avenue, right on Mount Vernon Street, across Adam and Chelsea streets along the Navy Yard's southwest border to the Charles River -- all land northeast of this line.
Ward No. 4 West Charlestown Beginning at the Mystic River at the border between the city of Boston and Somerville and along this border to a point on the Boston and Maine Railroad tracks where the extension of Lincoln Street would be, left up that extension along Lincoln Street, right on Main Street, left up Walker Street. right on High Street, left on Pearl Street in a straight line to the west of Brook's Wharf on the Mystic River -- all land west of this line plus the island on the north side of the Mystic River where the Malden Bridge lands.
Ward No. 5 Charlestown City Square Starting at Miller's River up the city of Boston and Somerville line, right on the extension of Lincoln Street (above mentioned) through Lincoln Street, right on Main Street, left on Walker Street, right on High Street along the south side of Monument Square, left up the east side of the square, right on Chestnut Street, verge left onto Mount Vernon Avenue, right on Mount Vernon Street, across Adam and Chelsea streets along the Navy Yard's southwest border to the Charles River -- all the land south of this line to the Miller's and Charles rivers.
Ward No. 6 North End Starting at the south side of Long Wharf across Atlantic Avenue, up Central Street, right on India Street, left on Milk Street, right on Washington Street, left on School Street across and up Beacon Street, right on Bowdoin Street, right on Cambridge Street, left on Chardon Street, left on Portland Street, right on Travers Street, left on Charlestown Street, right on Causeway Street, left on Prince Street to the Charles River.
Ward No. 7 Boston Common - Chinatown - South Station - Financial District Starting at Fort Point Channel up Broadway, left on Way Street, left on Harrison Avenue, right on Motte Street through Castle Street, right on Tremont Street, left on Pleasant Street, right on Columbus Avenue through Park Square, left on Charles Street, right on Beacon Street across through School Street, right on Washington Street, left on Milk Street, left on India Street, right on Central Street to the south side on Long Wharf on the harbor.
Ward No. 8 Mass. General Hospital - North Station Starting at the West Boston Bridge [now Longfellow Bridge] down Cambridge Street, right on Joy Street, left on Beacon Street, left on Bowdoin Street, right on Cambridge Street through Bowdoin Square, left on Chardon Street, sharp left on Portland Street, right on Travers Street, diagonal left on Charlestown Street, right on Causeway Street, and left on Prince Street to the river.
Ward No. 9 Southeastern South End Starting at Fort Point Channel up Broadway, left on Way Street, left on Harrison Avenue, right on Motte Street through Castle Street, left on Tremont Street, left on West Dedham Street, right on Shawmut Avenue, left on East Canton Street through to its extension to South Bay.
Ward No. 10 East Fenway through northern South End Starting at the Back Bay Fens at Boylston Street on the east, in on Boylston Street, right on Exeter Street, left on Blagden Street through Copley Square onto St. James Street, left on Berkeley Street, right on Providence Street to Park Square, right down Pleasant Street, right on Tremont Street, right on Dartmouth Street, left on Warren Avenue, diagonally across Columbus Avenue onto West Newton Street, left along the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad tracks, sharp right on Rogers Avenue, left on Huntington Avenue, right on the entrance to the Back Bay Fens, and along the Muddy River to the beginning.
Ward No. 11 Boston University - West Fenway - Back Bay - Flat of the Hill Starting on the Charles River at the West Boston Bridge [now Longfellow Bridge] out Cambridge Street, tight on Joy Street, right on Beacon Street, left on Charles Street through Park Square, right on Providence Street, left on Berkeley Street, right on St. James Avenue through Copley Square onto Blagden Street, right on Exeter Street, left on Boylston Street across the Muddy River and continue on Boylston Street, along the Muddy River to the extension of St. Mary's Street, down St. Mary's Street to the Charles River.
Ward No. 12 Western side of the South End Starting at the South Bay up East Canton Street, right on Shawmut Avenue, left on West Dedham Street across Tremont Street and up Dartmouth Street, left on Warren Avenue, diagonally across Columbus Square up West Newton Street, left on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad tracks, left on Camden Street, right on Washington Street, left on East Lenox Street, right on Fellows Street, right on Northampton Street, left on Albany Street, right on Massachusetts Avenue, left along the Roxbury Canal out to South Bay.
Ward No. 13 Northwestern side of South Boston Starting at a point on South Bay where the Dorchester Avenue and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad and go along Dorchester Avenue, left on D Street, right onto the tracks, left on E Street, right on West Broadway, left on F Street to the harbor -- all lands northwest of this line.
Ward No. 14 East end of South Boston Starting at the Old Harbor up K Street, left on East 6th Street, right on H Street, left on East Broadway and turn onto West Broadway, right on F Street to the harbor -- all land east of this line.
Ward No. 15 North Andrew Square to Telegraph Hill Starting at a point on South Bay where the Dorchester Avenue and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad and go along Dorchester Avenue, left on D Street, right onto the tracks, left on E Street, right on West Broadway, turn onto East Broadway, right on H Street, left on East 6th Street, right on K Street to the old harbor, right along the water, right up Old Harbor Street, left on Burnham Street, left on Mercer Street, right on Newman Street, left on Dorchester Street through Andrew Square and out Swett Street to South Bay.
Ward No. 16 South Andrew Square - Everett Square - Western Upham's Corner Starting on the Old Harbor up Old Harbor Street, left on Burnham Street, left on Mercer Street, right on Newman Street, left on Dorchester Street through Andrew Square and out Swett Street out the bridge, left on New York and New England Railroad tracks crossing Massachusetts Avenue, right on East Cottage through West Cottage Street, left on Blue Hill Avenue, left on Quincy Street, left on Columbia Street through Upham's Corner onto Boston Street to Everett Square, left on East Cottage across Town Meeting Square onto Crescent Avenue, left on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, right on the Carson Street extension to the Old Harbor.
Ward No. 17 Dudley Square of Roxbury Starting at South Bay and up the Roxbury Canal, right on Massachusetts Avenue, left on Albany Street, right on Northampton Street, left on Fellows Street, right on East Lenox Street, left on Washington Street, left on Warren Street, left on Moreland Street, right on Blue Hill Avenue, left on West Cottage onto East Cottage, left on New York and New England Railroad to South Bay.
Ward No. 18 Madison Square area of Roxbury Starting on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad tracks at Camden Street, out on the tracks, left on Linden Park Street, right on Gay Street, right on Roxbury Street to Eliot Square, very sharp left Bartlett Street onto Dudley Street, left on Warren Street onto Washington Street, and left on East Camden Street back to the beginning.
Ward No. 19 Mission Hill area of Roxbury Starting at the Back Bay Fens on the Muddy River (and the border with the town of Brookline), out the entrance, left on Huntington Avenue, right on Rogers Avenue, right on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, left on Linden Park Street, right on Gay Street, right on Roxbury Street across Eliot Square, left on Highland Street, right on Marcella Street, left on Centre Street, right on Heath Street [different than on map] to New Heath Street, left on Bickford Street, right on Minden Street, left on Day Street, right on Grotto Glen and extension across the Jamaicaway to the Muddy River, right along the river and border with the town of Brookline back to the beginning.
Ward No. 20 Mount Bowdoin northeast to Savin Hill in Dorchester Starting on Dorchester Bay up Greenwich Street, left on Dorchester Avenue, right Centre Avenue to what now is Codman Square, right on Talbot Avenue, right on Blue Hill Avenue, right on Quincy Street, left on Columbia Street through Upham's Corner onto Boston Street to Everett Square, left on East Cottage across Town Meeting Square onto Crescent Avenue, left on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, right on the Carson Street extension to the Old Harbor.
Ward No. 21 Washington Park to Grove Hall of Roxbury Starting at Eliot Square out on Bartlett Street onto Dudley Street, right on Warren Street, left on Moreland Street through Emmanuel Street, right on Blue Hill Avenue through Grove Hall, right on Seaver Street, right on Walnut Avenue, left on Westminster Avenue, right on Washington Street, left on Valentine Street, right on Thornton Street, left on Ella Street, left on Hawthorn Street, right on Highland Street to Eliot Square.
Ward No. 22 Jamaica Plain - Egleston Square Starting at Jamaica Pond out on Pond Street on the border with the town of Brookline, right on Myrtle Street, right on Centre Street, veer left onto South Street at the Soldier's Monument, left on Carolina Avenue, left on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad tracks, right on Green Street across Washington Street onto Glen Road across Forest Hills Street onto Sigourney Street onto Walnut Street, left on Westminster Avenue, right on Washington Street, left on Valentine Street, right on Thornton Street, left on Ella Street, left on Hawthorn Street, left on Highland Street onto Marcella Street, merge onto Centre Street, left on Centre Street, right on Heath Street [different than on map] to New Heath Street, left on Bickford Street, right on Minden Street, left on Day Street, right on Grotto Glen and extension across the Jamaicaway to the Muddy River, left along the Muddy River and the border with the town of Brookline to the beginning.
Ward No. 23 West Roxbury - Roslindale - Forest Hills Starting at Jamaica Pond out on Pond Street on the border with the town of Brookline, right on Myrtle Street, right on Centre Street, veer left onto South Street at the Soldier's Monument, left on Carolina Avenue, left on the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad tracks, right on Green Street across Washington Street onto Glen Road across Forest Hills Street onto Sigourney Street onto Walnut Street, right on Seaver Street, right on Blue Hills Avenue, right on Harvard Street to the border of the city of Boston and town of Hyde Park, left along the border with Hyde Park, right onto the border with the town of Dedham, right onto the border with the city of Newton, right onto the border with the town of Brookline back to the beginning.
Ward No. 24 Mattapan - Lower Mills - Ashmont - Neponset - Harrison Square Starting on Dorchester Bay up Greenwich Street, left on Dorchester Avenue, right Centre Avenue to what now is Codman Square, right on Talbot Avenue, left on Blue Hill Avenue, diagonally across Blue Hill Avenue onto Harvard Street to the border of the city of Boston and town of Hyde Park, left along the border with Hyde Park to the Neponset River, left down the river along the border with the town of Milton and city of Quincy to Dorchester Bay.
Ward No. 25 Allston - Brighton Starting at the Charles River at St. Mary's Street [Abbey Street on map] to Commonwealth Avenue -- all lands west of this line being the former town of Brighton.
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914

Top of Page || Top of Wards


Hyde Park annexation adds Ward 26 in 1912
The entirety of the former town of Hyde Park constitutes the whole of Ward 26


Boston Wards in 1914
No ward map found online
You can use the Boston Atlases, 1873-1938, by neighborhood


By this time, the wards come more neighborhood centric and so only the neighborhoods will be given from here forward to describe the ward geography.

Ward Description Ward Description
Ward No. 1 East Boston Dist. North
 Ward No. 14 Roxbury Dist. West
Ward No. 2 East Boston Dist. South and the harbor islands Ward No. 15 Roxbury Dist. - Roxbury St. to Franklin Park
Ward No. 3 Charlestown Dist. West Ward No. 16 Roxbury Dist. - Moreland St. to Franklin Park
Ward No. 4 Charlestown Dist. East Ward No. 17 Dorchester Dist. - Blue Hill Ave. to Savin Hill
Ward No. 5 Boston Proper - North End, and East Side to Broadway Ward No. 18 Dorchester Dist. - Grove Hall to Field's Corner
Ward No. 6 Boston Proper - South End to Tremont St. Ward No. 19 Dorchester Dist. - Franklin Park to Dorchester Ctr.
Ward No. 7 Boston Proper - Back Bay East Ward No. 20 Dorchester Dist. - Ashmont to Neponset River
Ward No. 8 Boston Proper - West End and Back Bay West Ward No. 21 Dorchester Dist. - Franklin Park to Lower Mills
Ward No. 9 South Boston Dist. North Ward No. 22 Jamaica Plain and Forest Hills
Ward No. 10 South Boston Dist. South Ward No. 23 West Roxbury Dist. and Roslindale
Ward No. 11 Dorchester Dist. - South Bay to Upham's Corner Ward No. 24 Hyde Park Dist. and Mattapan West
Ward No. 12 Roxbury Dist. East Ward No. 25 Brighton Dist. South
Ward No. 13 Roxbury Dist. Center Ward No. 26 Brighton Dist. North
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914

Top of Page || Top of Wards


Boston Wards in 1924
No ward map found online
You can use the Boston Atlases, 1873-1938 by neighborhood

This redistricting for the first time reduced the number of wards from 26 down to 22. Also, the harbor island were not included in any ward, so it is assumed no one was then living there.

Ward Description Ward Description
Ward No. 1 East Boston
 Ward No. 12 Roxbury East
Ward No. 2 Charlestown Ward No. 13 Dorchester North
Ward No. 3 Boston Proper Ward No. 14 Dorchester West
Ward No. 4 Back Bay South and the Fenway Ward No. 15 Dorchester North Central
Ward No. 5 Back Bay Ward No. 16 Dorchester South
Ward No. 6 South Boston North Ward No. 17 Dorchester Center
Ward No. 7 South Boston South Ward No. 18 Hyde Park and Mattapan
Ward No. 8 South End and Roxbury North Ward No. 19 Jamaica Plain and Roslindale East
Ward No. 9 Roxbury Center Ward No. 20 West Roxbury and Roslindale West
Ward No. 10 Roxbury West Ward No. 21 Brighton South
Ward No. 11 Roxbury South and Forest Hills Ward No. 22 Brighton North
Wards Defined in Years: Introduction | 1735 | 1805 | 1822
1838 | 1850 | 1865 | 1868 | 1870 | 1875 | 1895 | 1912 | 1914

Top of Page || Top of Wards


Historical City Streets[edit | edit source]

Introduction

With Boston's aggressive program of landfill and annexation of neighboring towns, the city landscape of streets was ever-changing. This is the researcher's guide to these streets, the additions, but also the deletions or moving of a name from one area to another.

The first listing of streets for the town of Boston was published as a broadside called The Names of the Streets, Lanes & Alleys within the Town of Boston, in New England (Boston, 1708). The Vade Mecum for America (Boston, 1732) was the first commercial guide designed for travellers. After the Revolution, some names of English or Royal bent were changed. The town ordered a new list made and it was recorded in the Town Records in 1788 that was recorded in book 8 starting on page 81. A second unofficial list was published called Names of the Streets, Lanes and Alleys in the Town of Boston in 1800. Street lists began to appear in the Boston City directories starting in 1803. The next official list came in 1834 when the 1708 and 1788 lists were reprinted and then updated with streets in the annexed South Boston, formerly Dorchester Neck. This was reprinted later the same year. An update to this report was published in 1842. As a byproduct of a project to index plans at the Suffolk Registry of Deeds in 1860, Francis Lincoln found it necessary to prepare a list of streets and their changes. This can be found there in manuscript form.

Because of the annexation of Roxbury, a list of changes in names for street in Boston proper and Roxbury was given in 1868 to eliminate the confusion caused by the duplication of names [see Municipal Records, Vol. 46, pp. 286-408, city Doc. No. 49, 1868]. The great study of street names and their history post-1708 was published in 1879 [see City Doc. No. 119 for 1879, Appendix J]. This included the work in 1860, but the problem was it only focused on Boston proper and many more towns had been annexed by that time. The Street Commissioners reported on 27 December 1880 to the city Council a Report of the Street Commissioners on the Nomenclature of the City's Streets [see City Doc. No. 141 for 1880] of suitable names the duplicate streets could be given. The rest of the publication history is presented in the lists to follow.

Introduction | Early Lists | Official Lists | Database

Unofficial lists (early)
  1. Vade Mecum for America; or a companion for traders and travellers (Boston, 1732), pp. 206-214.
    Digital version at Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  2. Boston Streets, Wards and Landmarks (Boston, 1826-1873) - 24 issues.
    No known digital versions.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  3. A List of Boston Streets, etc., etc. (Boston, 1868), 52 pp.
    Digital version at Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  4. Boston Street Directory, a complete pocket guide to the streets, avenues, places, parks, squares, wharves, etc., containing also hotels, etc. (Boston, 1876), p. 24to.
    No digital version found.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  5. Boston Street Directory, a complete pocket guide to the streets, avenues, places, parks, squares, wharves, etc., containing also hotels, etc. (Boston, 1885), unknown pagination.
    No digital version found.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.

Official lists
  1. The Names of the Streets, Lanes & Alleys within the Town of Boston, in New England (Boston, 1708), broadside, Note: This was reproduced in the front of the records of streets published in 1910 (below).
    No digital version found of original, but see the 1910 reprint.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries - one of many versions); Not at FS Library.
  2. The 1788 street name list published in the Documents of the City of Boston for the year 1903.
    Digital version at Google Books.
    Not on WorldCat; Not at FS Library.
  3. By a committee of the Board of Alderman, a third official list of streets was created in 1834 that utilized the first two lists and additions and deletions to 1834. This work included the streets from the recently annexed South Boston (in 1804). See city Records, Vol. 12, p. 179. This listed was formally submitted and adopted later in the year.
  4. The Committee on Laying Out and Widening Streets submitted a list an update to the previous report in 1842. See Municipal Record, Vol. 20, p. 297.
  5. Francis Lincoln who was preparing an index to plans at the Suffolk Registry of Deeds found it necessary to prepare a list of streets with their various names in 1860. This file was placed at the registry (so noted in 1910).
  6. An order was present to the Board of Aldermen in 1868 providing for changes in the names of a number of streets in Boston proper and Roxbury that was intended to eliminate the confusion caused by the duplication of names in the newly annexed Roxbury bearing the same names as streets in Boston proper. See Municipal Records, Vol. 46, pp. 286-408, city Doc. No. 49 for 1868.
  7. The Joint Standing Committee on Ordinances in 1879 submitted a report consisting of a statement of the manner in which the streets of the city had been named and their names changed, together with the reasons of the committee for limiting their research into the history of the streets to the period subsequent to 1708, and explanation of the difficulty of the work and the process by which the committee had arrived at the result, being appendix J of their report. See City Doc. No. 119 for 1879. Note: This study was only for Boston proper and thus left the rest of the city unstudied.
  8. Report of the Street Commissioners on the Nomenclature of the City's Streets which was a list of the public streets in different parts of the city with similar names and "the title which the Commissioners have suggested to themselves as suitable for such of those streets as in their opinion should be renamed and appended to them." See city Doc. No. 141 for 1880.
  9. List of Streets, Avenues, Courts, Places, Etc. showing the number and divisions of those extending through more than one ward by the Board of Registrars of Voters.
    Digital versions at 1880 ed. and 1888 ed.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  10. James R. Carret agreed to prepare for the city a record of names of the streets in the city as found in its records, alphabetically arranged, showing the dates of laying out and the date of change in name of any streets which had taken place from 1871 to 1894. See city Doc. No. 35 for 1894.
  11. The above work was continued by J. H. Jenkins, John W. Morrison, and Irwin C. Cromack and appeared as Appendix B in the report of the Street Laying-Out Department for 1894. See city Doc. No. 35 for 1895.
  12. List of Streets, Avenues, Courts, Places, Etc. showing the number and divisions of those extending through more than one ward or precinct together with the location of hotels, apartment-houses, etc. by the Board of Election Commissioners (Boston, 1896), 128 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  13. A Record of the Streets, Alleys, Places, Etc. in the City of Boston compiled under the Direction of the Street Commissioners and Printed by Order of the City Council with an Appendix containing a description of the Boundary, Wards and Aldermanic Districts of the City ... by the Street Laying-out Department (Boston, 1902), 466 pp.
    No digital version found.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  14. Boston Streets also its Avenues, Courts, Places, Etc., showing the numbers and divisions of those extending through more than one ward or precinct, together with the location of hotels, apartment-houses, etc. by the Board of Election Commissioners (Boston, 1906), 156 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  15. A Record of the Streets, Alleys, Places, Etc. in the City of Boston ... with an Appendix containing a description of the Boundary Line of the City and also a Description of the Changes which have been made in it by Annexations, etc., from the date of the Settlement of the Town to 1910 by the Street Laying-out Department (Boston, 1910), xvi, 543 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  16. Boston Streets also its Avenues, Courts, Places, Etc., showing the numbers and divisions of those extending through more than one ward or precinct, together with the location of hotels, apartment-houses, engine houses, school houses, institutions and hospitals by the Board of Street Commissioners (Boston, year varies).
    Digital versions by year: 1913; 1916; 1919; 1921; 1923; 1925; 1926; 1928; 1930; 1932; 1933; 1935.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries) - choose year; Not at FS Library.
  17. Boston Streets also its Avenues, Courts, Places, Etc., showing the numbers and divisions of those extending through more than one ward or precinct, together with the location of hotels, apartment-houses, engine houses, school houses, institutions, hospitals and Squares named in honor of World War veterans by the Board of Street Commissioners (Boston, year varies)
    Digital versions by year: 1936; 1939; 1941; 1944; 1948; 1951.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries) - choose year; Not at FS Library.
  18. Boston Streets also its Avenues, Courts, Places, Etc., showing the numbers and divisions of those extending through more than one ward or precinct, together with the location of Squares named in honor of World War veterans, hotels, fire stations, schools, institutions and hospitals, public libraries, parks and playgrounds by the Public Works Department (Boston, year varies).
    Digital versions by year: 1955; 1957 (supp. only); 1958; 1959 (supp. only); 1960 (supp. only); 1963.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries) - choose year; Not at FS Library.
  19. Boston Streets also its Avenues, Courts, Places, Etc., showing the numbers and divisions of those extending through more than one ward or precinct, together with the location of Squares named in honor of veterans, hotels, fire stations, police stations, schools, institutions and hospitals, public libraries, little city halls, parks, playgrounds, public buildings, historical sites, parking locations, and places of religious worship by the Public Works Department (Boston, year varies).
    Digital versions by year: 1971; 1976; 1982; 1989.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries) - choose year; Not at FS Library.
  20. Street Directory including location of all streets with numbers at which other streets intersect by the Boston Transportation Department (Boston, year varies).
    Digital versions by year: 1993; 1999.
    Not in WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Introduction | Early Lists | Official Lists | Database

Official database
  1. Online database that gives the street's beginning and end, whether public, ward, precinct, district, Public Works Department section, and zip code.
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Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

The following is a chronological list of cemeteries in present-day Boston proper, Boston Harbor, East Boston, and South Boston. For information on the areas annexed to Boston, see those separate town pages. For more details regarding these cemeteries, see the state guide under cemeteries for books on the subject.

The city's Parks and Recreation Department runs a public / private cooperative program called the Historic Burying Grounds Initiative. From their website, you can learn more about the eighteen historic burying grounds in their oversight, find maps of them, newsletters of the program, and a mid-1980s database of fourteen of the cemeteries (missing Evergreen, Fairview, Mount Hope, and South End) giving the name, death date, cemetery, and location for each entry.

A general guide to cemetery inscriptions is Henry Ashley May, "Boston Cemetery Inscriptions and records" (Boston, ca. 1895-1908), ms., 12v. in 34, held by Boston Public Library Rare Books [Ms.Am.1812]:

  • v. 1 - Bunker Hill Burying Ground
  • v. 2 - Central Burying Ground (3 pts.)
  • v. 3 - Christ Church crypt
  • v. 4 - Copp's Hill Burying Ground (6 pts.)
  • v. 5 - Dorchester Old North Burying Ground (4 pts.)
  • v. 6 - Dorchester South Burying Ground (2 pts.)
  • v. 7 - East Boston Cemetery
  • v. 8 - Granary Burying Ground (6 pts.)
  • v. 9 - Hawes Cemetery
  • v. 10 - King's Chapel Burying Ground
  • v. 11 - Phipps Street Burying Ground (5 pts.)
  • v. 12 - St. Paul's Church crypt.

and "City of Boston : military record and burial location of Revolutionary War veterans," Mss C 4044, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.

A statewide guide, but very useful here is:
David Allen Lambert, A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries (Boston, 2002, 2nd ed., 2009), xvii, 345 pp.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.4 V34L (both for 2nd ed.).

Quick Links to Cemeteries
Boston Proper
Introduction King's Chapel (1630) Copp's Hill (1660)
Granary (1660) Quaker (1709) Jewish (bef. 1734)
Boston Common (1756) South End (1810) St. Paul's tombs (1823)
Park St. tombs (1824) Old Trinity tombs (n.d.) Miscellaneous (1675)
Boston Harbor Islands
Nix's Mate (1724) Castle Island (1762) Thompson's Island (1842)
Deer Island (1847) Governor's Island (19th c.) Rainsford Island (1871)
Long Island Hosp. (1893) Resthaven (1918)
East Boston
Bennington St. (1819) Temple Ohabei (1844)
South Boston
South Boston tombs (1810) Hawes (1816) St. Augustine's (1819)
St. Matthew's tombs (1819) Union (1841)
Boston proper cemeteries


1. King's Chapel Burying Ground, Tremont St., 1630. (B, C)

Note: There are interior tombs in the chapel dating back to 1749.
Wikipedia entry.

2. Copp's Hill or North Burying Ground, between Hull St. and Charter St., 1660. (B)

City of Boston cemetery website.
Wikipedia entry.
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3. Granary Burying Ground, Common [now Tremont] St., 1660. (B, C)

City of Boston cemetery website.
Wikipedia entry.
  • "Headstones found in Granary Cemetery with letter from L. W. Ross, 1891," manuscript held by Boston Public Library Rare Books. [K.11.39]
  • "Burials in Boston's South (Granary) burial ground, 1708-1710" (Mss C 1040), 14 items, R Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society.
  • Thomas Bridgman, The Pilgrims of Boston and their Descendants: also, inscriptions form the monuments in the Granary Burial Ground, Tremont Street (New York, 1856; rep. West Jordan, Utah, 1984), xvi, 406 pp.
    Note: Reprint printed with six original pages on one reprinted page.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive, Ancestry ($).
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); WorldCat (Other Libraries) (reprint); FS Catalog book 974.461 D2b and film 1425546 Item 1 (with digital link).
  • A Sketch of the Original and History of the Granary Burial Ground: With a list of the past and present owners of tombs (Boston, 1879), 21 pp.
    Digital version at Google Books.
    Not on WorldCat; Not at FS Library.
  • William Henry Whitmore, The Graveyards of Boston: Second Volume, Granary and Boston Common Epitaphs (Albany, N.Y., 188-), 128 pp.
    No digital version available.
    Not on WorldCat; Not at FS Library; NEHGS Library, Boston.
  • "Historical Sketch and Matters Appertaining to the Granary Burial-Ground" in Annual Report of the Cemetery Dept. of Boston, Fiscal Year 1901-1902 (Boston, 1902), p. 35-65. Offprint (Boston, 1902), 37 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Ogden Codman, Gravestone Inscriptions and Records of Tomb Burials in the Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Mass. (Salem, Mass., 1918; rep. Bowie, Md., 1997), 255 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 V3g and film 873757 Item 4 (with digital link); FS Catalog book 974.461 V3c (reprint ed.).
  • Alphabetical Indexes to Boston Burying Grounds (Boston, 1984-1985), 6 parts in 1 volume.
    Note: 6th part is the Granary Burying Ground.
    Not on WorldCat; Not at FS Library; NEHGS Library, Boston.

4. Quaker Burying Ground [site], Congress St., 1709. (B)

Note: The meeting house was burned in the Great Fire of 1760. Thwing [see History - Topographical above], 145, said the remains were re-interred in Lynn in 1827. Dunkle and Lainhart [see below as item B], 800, say William Mumford bought land on Brattle Square in 1694 for a Quaker meeting house and burying ground. The Society moved to Quaker Lane [now Congress Street] in 1708. This Society voted to discontinue in 1808. After eleven years of non-use, the remains of 111 people were exhumed and removed to Lynn. It was uncommon for Quakers to inscribe stones, so this lost cemetery was likely marked with fieldstones. The source for the later is not given.
From an article that was published in Bowen's Boston News-Letter, and City Record, v. 2 [1826], p. 5-6, dated 8 July 1826, this land was purchased in 1709 and 1713 under a trust until 1823 when the law changed to allow the "Friends" to own it directly. Workmen for the group finish exhuming the 111 bodies yesterday in work that took nine days. The site of the burying ground included a ruinous building that was their former meeting house, but had not been occupied for nearly twenty years. The group planned to dispose of this lot.

5. Jewish Burial Ground, Chamber St., before 1734. (B)

Note: This burying ground was referenced in a deed of Isaac Solomon in 1735 as a "Burying Ground as it is now fenced in to the Jewish nation." Nothing more is known about this site. See Thwing [see History - Topographical above], 205-206.
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6. Central or Boston Common Burying Ground, Boylston St., 1756. (B, C)

Wikipedia entry.
  • William Henry Whitmore, The Graveyards of Boston: Second Volume, Granary and Boston Common Epitaphs (Albany, N.Y., 188-), 128 pp.
    No digital version available.
    Not on WorldCat; Not at FS Library; NEHGS Library, Boston.
  • Ogden Codman, Gravestone Inscriptions and Records of Tomb Burials in the Central Burying Ground, Boston Common, and Inscriptions in the South Burying Ground, Boston (Salem, Mass., 1917), 167 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 V3cb or film 873757 Item 5 (with digital link).
  • Alphabetical Indexes to Boston Burying Grounds (Boston, 1984-1985), 6 parts in 1 volume.
    Note: 6th part is the Granary Burying Ground.
    Not on WorldCat; Not at FS Library; NEHGS Library, Boston.

7. South Burying Ground or South End Cemetery, Washington St. between East Newton and East Concord Sts., South End, 1810-1866. (A, B)

From the city's Historic Burying Ground Initiative: When the South End Burying Ground was opened in 1810, it was located on the narrow strip of marshland, Roxbury Neck, which connected the peninsula of Boston to the mainland. The gallows stood at the east edge of the burying ground, near the tidewaters of South Boston Bay, leading to the persistent myth that primarily hanged pirates and other criminal were buried here. In fact, it is difficult to know exactly who is buried here. In the nineteenth century, people of modest means had recorded, but unmarked graves. They could not afford elaborate headstones or other types of monumentation. While there are only 20 grave markers, records indicate that over 11,000 are buried at this site. Successive filling of the marshy site permitted burials in several tiers. It has been reported that South End Burying Ground contains the graves of paupers from the Alms House and inmates from the House of Industry. Mostly, though, this site is known as a working man's burying ground, where families paid a small fee to the City for burials. Interments ceased in this graveyard in 1866.

Note: Others have taken the short list of inscriptions (noted above and given below) into a long lost cemetery on Boston Neck, but in fact there is only one cemetery in this part of the city.

8. St. Paul's Cathedral Tombs [site], Tremont St., 1823-1914.

Note: The tombs were used to the late 19th century and the burials removed in 1914 -- some to Mount Hope Cemetery.

9. Park Street Church Tombs, Park St., 1824-1861.

Note: Some burials were re-interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, in 1861.

10. Old Trinity Church Tombs [site], Summer St., burned in the Great Fire of 1872. Many of the burials from this tomb were removed to Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge.

10a. Miscellaneous sites.

  • Photograph of three gravestones found by the Street Department of the Boston Gas Light Company, July 19, 1888, in excavating in Bosworth St. (formerly Montgomery Pl.) about 10 or 12 feet from Tremont St., Mss A 2448, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
    Image of three tombstones found under Bosworth St. The inscription on the first stone reads "Here lyes ye body / of John Thomson / Aged 57 years / Died August ye 27 / 1720". The inscription on the second stone reads "Rvth Brading / aged one year / and XI monthes / and 27 dayes / Dyed the 3 of / Jvly 1675". The inscription on the final stone reads "Ebenezer Hile / Son to Henry / & Mary Hile / Age 17 years / Decd May the 7th / 1723."

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Boston Harbor Island cemeteries


What is known about the cemeteries on the islands comes from Edward Rowe Snow, The Islands of Boston Harbor, Their History and Romance 1626-1935 (Andover, Mass., 1935), 367 pp. with map, WorldCat (Other Libraries), Not at FS Library. The only islands with cemeteries there now are "Deer Island" and "Long Island" - neither are technically islands any more.

11. Nix's Mate Island Cemetery [site], Mix Mate Island, Boston, Harbor, 1724-1735.

Note: Used for the burial of some pirates.

12. Castle Island Cemetery, now through landfill, the tip of South Boston, 1762.

There were several individual sites on the island and the cemetery on the southern point. Some burials were moved to Governor's Island in 1892 and others to Deer Island in 1908.

13. Thompson's Island Cemetery [site], Thompson's Island, Boston Harbor, 1842.

A Boston Death record lists a Charles H. Austin who was buried there in 1842.

14. Deer Island Cemetery, Deer Island, Boston Harbor, 1847.

This island has a Native American burial site from the King Philip's War in 1675-1676. The island was home to a quarantine station and many immigrants, mostly Irish, who died at the station were buried there in nameless graves. These are two separate sites. The burial grounds are now part of the park and the cemetery listed on maps nearby is Resthaven Cemetery (listed below) but included Waster Water Treatment Facility.

15. Governor's Island Cemetery [site], 19th century.

The cemetery was on the north slope of the hill and every grave was moved in 1908 to Deer Island.

16. Rainsford Island Cemetery [site], 1871-1920.

Note: The island was home to the adult male Paupers' House from 1871 to 1888. Those residences were moved over to nearby Long Island then and the building housed the adult female paupers. It became the House of Reformation from 1895 to 1920 that was renamed the Suffolk School for Boys. Burials were made from the Paupers' House.

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17. Long Island Hospital Cemetery, Long Island, Boston Harbor, 1893.

The Almshouse was here and buried over 2500 there by 1935. These graves are only marked by lot numbers.

18. Resthaven Cemetery, Deer Island, Boston Harbor, 1918.

Note: This island was home to a prison, reform school, a fort, and other buildings. There were two cemeteries for these different facilities, one for prisoners and hospital patients and the other for military personnel. The military remains wer re-interred at Fort Devens Cemetery in Ayer, Mass. The others were moved to the New Rest Haven Cemetery.

East Boston cemeteries


19. Bennington Street Burying Ground, Bennington corner of Swift Sts., East Boston, 1819. (A)

20. Temple Ohabei Shalom Cemetery, Wordsworth St., East Boston, 1844.

South Boston cemeteries


21. South Boston Tombs [site], West Seventh and Dorchester Sts., South Boston, 1810.

Note from Toomey and Rankin, History of South Boston, p. 127: Fifteen tombs were built on the spot where the Shurtleff school was and it was supposed that it was used only for a short time.

22. Hawes Burying Ground, Old Road now Emerson St., South Boston, 1816. (A, B)

Thomas Hill, "The Only Protestant Burial Ground in South Boston" (mss., 1901) (Mss C 3389), 10 p., R Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society.

23. St. Augustine's Cemetery, West Sixth St. west of Dorchester St., South Boston, 1819.

Note: This cemetery was filled not long after 1900.
The Archdiocese of Boston Archives holds the lot sales (1840-1859), burials (1850-1859), copies of gravestones (1819-1850), and an undated list of graves copied from the original records.
1819-1859 Boston, MA: St. Augustine Cemetery Records, 1819-1859 at American Ancestors — index & images ($)

24. St. Matthew's Episcopal Church Tombs [site], Broadway near E St., South Boston, 1819.

Note: Tombs were built in the cellar of the church and these were removed in 1864 and re-interred at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Roslindale [a former section of West Roxbury].

25. Union Cemetery, East Fifth St., South Boston, 1841 (A).

Note: This is the newest and smallest cemetery in South Boston and adjoins the Hawes Burying Ground.

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to:
(A). Inventories of Some Boston Cemeteries (Boston, 1990)
WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
(B). Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, Inscriptions and Records of The Old Cemeteries of Boston (Boston, 2000), xiii, 914 pp.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 V3d.
(C). Charles Chauncey Wells and Suzanne Austin Wells, Preachers, Patriots & Plain Folks: Boston's Burying Ground Guide to King's Chapel, Granary, Central (Oak Park, Ill., 2004), 288 pp.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 V37wc.

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Churches[edit | edit source]

Online Databases[edit | edit source]

The following is a list of churches established in Boston, East Boston, and South Boston by date founded. The earliest list of churches found was from Thomas Prince, The Vade Mecum for America: Or a Companion for Traders and Travellers (Boston, 1732), page 215, with "A List of the Houses of Publick Worship in Boston, with the Streets where they Stand, and the Times of the Foundation of the several Churches." There were fourteen listed then and by all accounts, there nothing established that were closed by then. The next authority used was John Hayward, A Gazetteer of Massachusetts (Boston, 1847), pp. 70-102, and Carroll D. Wright, Report of the Custody and Condition of the Public Records of Parishes, Towns, and Counties (Boston 1889). For information specific to Congregational churches, Harold Field Worthley, An Inventory of the Records of the Particular (Congregational) Churches of Massachusetts Gathered 1620-1805 (Cambridge, Mass., 1970) was consulted.

The best resource for the vital records of the churches of Boston is Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002) on CD [see WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Library CD-ROM no. 1547]. The transcribers copied all baptisms, marriages, deaths, admissions, and dismissals from all Boston churches established before 1800 where records were found and include the first three parishes of Roxbury. Some transcriptions go beyond 1800. The only church not giving permission for their records to be included was the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (the oldest Catholic Church in New England). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).

Another interesting source for early churches is Martin Moore, Boston Revival, 1842: A Brief History of the Evangelical Churches of Boston (Boston, 1842; rep. Wheaton, Ill., 1980), viii, 148 pp., digital versions of the first edition at Internet Archive.

Use the navigation boxes below to jump to the church you want. Realize that this listing uses the most common historical name of the church. If you do not find the name of the church you seek, then open the search feature in your browser to find the name you want.

Quick Links to
Boston Churches established by 1800
First Church (1630) Second Church (1650) Quaker (1661)
1st Baptist (1665) Old South (1669) French Huguenot (1686)
King's Chapel (1688) Brattle St. (1698) New North (1714)
New South (1719) New Brick (1722) Christ's Church (1722)
Trinity (1728) Arlington St. (1729) Hollis St. (1737)
West (1737) Mather's (1742) 2nd Baptist (1743)
Croswell's (1748) Sandermanian (1764) 1st Universalist (1785)
Holy Cross (1788) 1st Methodist Epis. (1792)
Quick Links to
Boston Churches established between 1801 and 1830
1st Christian (1804) African Baptist (1805) Bromfield St. Meth. Epis. (1806)
Charles St. Baptist (1807) Park Street (1809) St. Matthew's Epis. (1816)
2nd Universalist (1816) Swedenborg (1818) Union United Methodist (1818)
Hawes Place (1819) Union (1819) St. Augustine's (1819)
St. Paul's Episcopal (1820) Bulfinch Street (1822) Green Street (1823)
Phillips' (1823) 12th Congregational (1825) Bowdoin Street (1825)
13th Congregational (1825) Bulfinch Place (1826) Salem Street (1827)
Berkeley Street (1827) South Congregational (1827) Clarendon St. Baptist (1827)
Bethel Church (1828) Mariner's Church (1828) St. Stephen's Epis. (1829)
Grace Church (1829) Broadway Universalist (1830)
Quick Links to
Boston Churches established between 1831 and 1840
South Baptist (1831) Church St. Methodist (1834) Free Will Baptist (1834)
Broadway Methodist Epis. (1834) Warren Street (1834) Beacon Universalist (1835)
Central (1835) 1st Free Church (1835) North Baptist (1835)
Church of Our Father (1835) St. Mary's (1836) St. Patrick's (1836)
Maverick (1837) Free Church of St. Mary (1837) Suffolk St. Unitarian (1837)
Columbus Ave. African Meth. Epis. (1838) N. Russell St. Meth. Epis. (1839) Harvard St. Baptist (1839)
Tremont St. Baptist (1839) Chardon St. Chapel (1839) Zion Evangelical Luth. (1839)
Bowdoin Sq. Baptist (1840) E. Boston Universalist (1840) German Reformed (1840)
Quick Links to
Boston Churches established between 1841 and 1846
Church of the Disciples (1841) Garden Street (1841) Mount Vernon (1842)
Meridan St. Meth. Epis. (1842) Richmond St. Meth. Epis. (1842) West Universalist (1843)
Church of the Messiah (1843) 3rd Christian (1843) Central Sq. Baptist (1844)
Leyden (1844) St. Peter & St. Paul (1844) St. Stephen's Catholic (1844)
Church of the Advent (1844) Messiah (1844) Pilgrim Congregational (1844)
Holy Trinity (1844) Most Holy Redeemer (1844) St. Stephen's Chapel (1844)
St. John's Church (1845) Union Baptist (1845) Church of the Saviour (1845)
Broadway Church (1845) Payson Church (1845) Boston Bapt. Bethel (1845)
South Universalist (1845) Universalist Free (1845) Seamen's Chapel (1845)
Shawmut Avenue (1845) Indiana Street (1845) 28th Congregational (1846)
1st Presbyterian (1846) 1st Ind. Irish Prot. (1846)



1. First Church, Old Church or Old Brick Church [now First Church of Boston], 1630.

Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • King Street [later called State St.] at the corner of Devonshire St., 1632-1639 [see sketch].
  • Cornhill [later called Washington St.], 1639-1808. This building burned in 1711 and a new brick church built on the same spot the following year called the Old Brick Church [see painting of building, 1712-1808]. This building was sold in 1808.
  • Chauncey Place, 1808-1868 [see sketch].
  • 66 Marlborough Street, 1868 to present [see 19th century image or 1920 view].
Note:
  • A fire destroyed its building in 1968, and after it merged with the Old North Church to form The First and Second Church of Boston.
  • Voted to change its name to the Society of the First Church in Boston in 2005.
Records:
Online resources:
Publications:
  • William Emerson, An Historical Sketch of the First Church in Boston: from its formation to the present period (Boston, 1812), [2], 256 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive, Hathi Trust.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Jeremiah Colburn, "Marriages in Boston, Mass. from the Original Certificates of the Clergymen Officiating" in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 34 [1880]: 94-96, for 1707.
  • Arthur B. Ellis, History of the First Church in Boston, 1630-1880 (Boston, 1881), lxxxviii, 356 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Births, Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths, 1630-1699 (Boston, 1883; rep. 1908), vii, 281 pp.
    This volume includes baptisms from the First Congregational Church only.
    This volume was microfiched by the FamilySearch Library, FS Library fiche 6013405-6013407 and in digital versions at Internet Archive, Ancestry ($); searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
    WorldCat (Other Libraries), 1883 ed., 1908 ed.; FS Library fiche 6013405-6013407.
    Sanford Charles Gladden, An Index to the Vital Records of Boston, 1630-1699 ([Boulder, Colo.], 1969), ii. 188 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 V22g.
  • Anson Titus, "Marriages of Rev. Thomas Foxcroft, A.M., Boston. 1717-1769" in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 42 [1888]: 152-155, 250-254.
  • Memorials in the First Church in Boston (Boston, 1926?), [40] pp., photographs with descriptive text.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Richard D. Pierce, ed., The Records of The First Church in Boston, 1630-1868 being vols. 39 to 41 in the Publications of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts: Collections (Boston, 1961), 1254 pp.
    Digital version of Vol. 1 only at DigitalCommons for viewing only (this takes a couple minutes to download file) and cannot be saved.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Leo W. Collins, This is Our Church: The Seven Societies of the First Church in Boston 1630-2005 (Boston, 2005), iii, 181 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
John Wilson (1632-1667) Benjamin Wadsworth (1696-1725) Rufus Ellis (1853-1886)
John Cotton (1633-1652) Thomas Bridge (1705-1715) Stopford Wentworth Brooke (1886-1898)
John Norton (1656-1663) Thomas Foxcroft (1717-1769) James Eells (1898-1905)
John Davenport (1668-1670) Charles Chauncey (1727-1787) Charles Edward Park (1906-1946)
James Allen (1668-1710) John Clarke (1778-1798) Duncan Howlett (1946-1958)
John Oxenbridge (1670-1674) William Emerson (1799-1811) Rhys Williams (1960-2000)
Joshua Moody, asst. (1684-1693) John Lovejoy Abbott (1813-1814) Stephen Kendrick (2001-20--)
John Bailey, asst. (1693-1697) Nathaniel L. Frothingham (1815-1850) Rosemary Lloyd (2005-20--)
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2. Second Church or North Church and latter the Old North Church, 1650-1970.

Wikipedia pages: Second Church, Boston (historic church) and Second Church in Boston (last building).
Locations:
  • North Square [called Church Square in 1732] in the North End, 1650-1776 [see sketch].
    Burned in 1676, rebuilt on old site, British troops tear down building for firewood in 1776.
  • Middle Street [became part of Hanover Street in 1824] in the North End, 1779-1849.
    This was formerly the church for the Seventh Church or so-called New Brick Church and became the Old North Church.
  • Freeman Place on Beacon Hill, 1849-1854.
  • Bedford Street in the Financial District, 1854-1872.
  • Boylston Street at Copley Square, 1874-1914.
  • 874 Beacon Street on the corner with Park Drive, 1914-1970.
Notes:
  • Some members left to form the New North Church in 1714.
  • A group of Old Light members led by Samuel Mather seceded in 1742 to form the Tenth Church. When their pastor died in 1785, they rejoined this church.
  • Congregation invited to combined services at the New Brick Church (i.e. Seventh Church ) after British troops destroyed the Old North Church in 1776.
  • This church merged with the Seventh Church [or so-called New Brick Church] to be called the Old North Church in 1779.
  • Church shifts to Unitarian doctrine in 1802.
  • Church building demolished in 1844 and rebuilt on the same site in 1845 and called The Second Church.
  • Church purchased the Freeman Place Chapel and moved there. They sold their Hanover Street building to a Methodist congregation.
  • Church merged with the Church of Our Savior and moved into their building on Bedford Street in 1854. They sold the Freeman Place building.
  • Church on Bedford Street dismantled, the land sold, and reassembled the building with slight modifications in Copley Square that opened in 1874.
  • Brought property at the corner of Beacon Street and Park Drive in 1913 and built a church in 1914.
  • The Second Church joined the First Church to form The First and Second Church of Boston in 1970.
Records:
  • A note in the earliest original book state that after 23 years of existence, the church had yet to get a record book and that this sad state of affairs was impossible to restore it to a desirable record. The contemporary records begin in 1673.
  • The church vital records from 1741 to 1768 were lost during the Revolutionary War according to Worthley, but most seem present.
  • Second Church (Boston, Mass.), Records, 1650-1970, held at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
  • John Lathrop, account book, 1780-1802, minister of the Second Church, held by the Baker Library, Harvard Business School.
  • Second Church, records, 1676-1816, FS Library film 856699 Item 2.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS($).
Publications:
  • Richard Mather, John Cotton, and James Allen, A platform of church-discipline; : gathered out of the Word of God; and agreed upon by the elders and messengers of the churches assembled in the Synod at Cambridge in N.E. : To be presented to the churches & General Court for their consideration & acceptance in the Lord, the 8th. month, anno. 1649 (1649; rep. Boston, 1701, by the Second Church), [26], 64, [6] pp.
    Digital transcription online.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Henry Ware, Two Discourses containing the History of the Old North and New Brick Churches, united as the Second Church in Boston (Boston, 1821), 61 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Catalogue of Books Belonging to the Library of the Second Church, 1832 (Boston, 1832), 17 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Chandler Robbins, A History of the Second Church, or Old North, in Boston: to which is added a History of the New Brick Church (Boston, 1852), viii, 320 pp.
    Admissions and baptisms on pp. 226-291.
    Digital versions available at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 K2rc.
  • Catalogue of Books Belonging to the Library (Boston, 1854), 56 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Jeremiah Colburn, "Marriages in Boston, Mass. from the Original Certificates of the Clergymen Officiating" in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 34 [1880]: 94-96, for 1701 and 1715.
  • Francis H. Brown, The Historical and Other Records Belonging to the Second Church in Boston ([Boston, 1888]), 12 pp.
    Digital versions available at Internet Archive and Hathi Trust.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • George Henry Eager, Historical Sketch of the Second Church in Boston (Boston, 1894), 43 pp.
    Digital Version available at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Three Centuries of Christian Church Life, 1649-1949 ([Boston], 1949), 13 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • John Nicholls Booth, The Story of the Second Church in Boston, the original Old North; including the Old North Church Mystery (Boston, 1959), 92 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
John Mayo (1655-1673) Ralph Waldo Emerson (1829-1832) Dudley Hays Ferrell (1931-1932)
Increase Mather (1664-1723) Chandler Robbins (1833-1874) DuBois LeFevre (1933-1940
Cotton Mather (1685-1728) Robert Laird Collier (1876-1878) Walton E. Cole (1941-1945)
Joshua Gee (1723-1748) Edward Augustus Horton (1880-1892) G. Ernest Lynch Jr. (1947-1949)
Samuel Mather (1732-1741) Thomas Van Ness (1893-1913) Clayton Brooks Hale (1950-1957)
Samuel Checkley Jr. (1747-1768) Samuel Raymond Maxwell (1914-1919) John Nicholls Booth (1958-1964)
John Lathrop (1768-1816) Eugene Rodman Shippen (1920-1929) John K. Hammon (1964-1970)
Henry Ware Jr. (1817-1830)
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3. Quaker Meetinghouse, 1661-1808, 1870-present.

Locations:
  • Brattle Street on the part that was later called Brattle Square, to ca. 1710.
    The Society of Friends met in Boston as early as 1664. They built the first brick meeting house in Boston in 1694.
  • Leverett's Lane [also called Quaker Lane and later became Congress Street], ca. 1710-1808.
Notes:
  • Their meeting house was burned in the Great Fire of 1760 and they rebuilt on the same site.
  • They voted to "laid down" in 1808, though they met informally at Milton Place (in 1847).
  • The Boston meeting was officially restarted in 1870 and became a Monthly Meeting in 1883.
  • Boston Monthly Meeting merged into the Cambridge Monthly Meeting in 1944.
Records:
  • Boston Working Group, 1661-1707;
  • Boston Preparative Meeting, 1707-1792;
  • Boston Working Group, 1792-1808;
  • Boston Working Group, 1870-1879; and
  • Boston Preparative Meeting, 1879-1883 are
    All part of the Salem Monthly Meeting records held by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
  • Boston Monthly Meeting, 1883-1944, held by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
  • Friends' Meeting House, account of losses in fire in 1760, held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.Am.1809(45).
  • Society of Friends papers, 1842-1924, held by The Bostonian Society, MS0093.
Publications:
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4. Annabaptist Church or First Baptist Church, 1665.

Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • The group first met usually at the home of Thomas Gould, the first pastor, in Charlestown [not then part of Boston] and later at his place on Noodle's Island [now East Boston], 1665-1679.
  • The first meetinghouse built off from Back Street on the shore of the Mill Pond in the North End [later it became Stillman Street], 1679-1771.
  • They built a larger structure on the same site, 1771-1829.
  • They built a brick church on Hanover Street at the corner of Union Street, 1829-1854.
  • They moved to a brick building on Somerset Street on Beacon Hill, 1854-1877.
  • They moved to the Suffolk Street Chapel at the corner of Shawmut Avenue and Rutland Street in the South End, 1877-1882.
  • They moved to the church at 110 Commonwealth Avenue at the corner of Clarendon Street, 1882-present.
Notes:
  • This church was formed by two women and seven men in Charlestown in 1665.
  • Its doors were ordered nailed shut in 1680 by order of the Governor and Council for a week.
  • Its pastor Samuel Stillman help to establish Rhode Island College [now Brown University] and the first Baptist Missionary Society in America [now The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts] in 1764.
  • First African Church [now the People's Baptist Church in Roxbury] gathered here in 1805.
  • Established a sabbath school in 1816.
  • Found the Newton Theological School [now the Andover Newton Theological School] in 1825.
  • The congregation sold their church to a new congregation that formed in South Boston and the building was floated over to its new location in 1829.
  • The Shawmut Avenue Baptist Church merged with this church in 1877.
  • The church bought its present building from the Brattle Square Unitarian Society who had it constructed in 1872.
Records:
  • First Baptist Church, records, 1665-1879, FS Library film 856702, item 6(*) - index and images.
  • First Baptist Church, record book, 1665-1797 (microfilm), 217 leaves, WorldCat (Other Libraries) and WorldCat (Other Libraries).
  • First Baptist Church, records, 1771-1960 (microfilm), held by the American Baptist Historical Society
  • First Baptist Church, records, 1665-1838, transcription by James S. Loring in 1848 of the list of members with baptisms and deaths, held by Massachusetts Historical Society.
  • Membership list for the First Baptist Church of Boston, Mss 1104, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
    Membership list 1665-1846 for the First Baptist Church of Boston written in pencil on the first 123 pages. List is arranged alphabetically by surname with date admitted, method (baptism, letter, etc.), and notes. The notes concern dismissal, marriage, death, etc. End sheet has First Baptist church constituted AD 1665 Boston" in ink .There is a note by Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor dated Boston Dec 17 1828 concerning the intention to copy the early records of the church followed by "copy of the original records of the First Baptist Church" on the gathering of the church in 1665 and baptisms in 1665 and 1669 [records end with this single page]. The remainder of the ledger is blank.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
  • James M. Winchell, Jubilee Sermon: Two Discourses Exhibiting an Historical Sketch of the First Baptist Church in Boston from its First Formation in Charlestown 1655 to the Beginning of 1818 (Boston, 1819), 47 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • A Brief History of the First Baptist Church in Boston, with a list of its present members (Boston, 1839), 36 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • A Brief History of the First Baptist Church in Boston, with a list of its present members (Boston, 1843), 36 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • A Brief History of the First Baptist Church in Boston, with a list of its present members (Boston, 1853), 36 pp.
    Digital version at Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Historical Sketch of the First Baptist Church, Boston: With the Church covenant, articles of faith, and a list of present members (Boston, 1891), 64 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Nathan E. Wood, The History of the First Baptist Church of Boston (Philadelphia, 1899), x, 378 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Library film 1320779 Item 3.
  • John W. Brush, Legacy of Faith: A Short History of the First Baptist Church of Boston (Groveland, Mass., 1965), 68 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
Thomas Gould (1665-1675) Francis Wayland Jr. (1821-1827) Herbert S. Johnson (1938-1940)
John Russell Jr. (1679-1680) Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor (1827-1830) Harry Howard Kruener (1940-1948)
Isaac Hull (1682-1689, 1694-1699) William Hague (1831-1837) John U. Miller (1949-1956)
John Emblem (1684-1699) Rollin Heber Neale (1837-1877) Edward L. Gunther (1958-1961)
Ellis Callender (1708-1726) Cephas Bennett Crane (1878-1894) Charles W. Griffin (1961-1970)
Elisha Callender (1718-1738) Philip Stafford Moxom (1894-1899) J. Walter Sillen (1971-1981)
Jeremiah Condy (1738-1764) Nathan Eusebius Wood (1894-1899) Milton P. Ryder (1982-2001)
Samuel Stillman (1764-1807) Francis Harold Rowley (1900-1910) Jay Warren VanHorn (2003-2006)
Joseph Clay (1807-1808) Austen Kennedy deBlois (1911-1925) Stephen Butler Murray (2008-20--)
James Manning Winchell (1814-1820) Harold Major (1926-1938)
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5. Third Church or South Church [now called Old South Church in Boston officially or the New Old North Church], 1669.

Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • Cedar Meeting House, 1670-1729.
    This was on Marlborough Street [between Summer and School Streets and became part of Washington Street in 1824 at the corner of Milk Street']. This building was torn down as it was no longer big enough, and the new brick meeting house (below) constructed on the same spot.
  • Old South Meeting House, 1729-1875.
  • 645 Boylston Street (at the corner of Dartmouth St.) on Copley Square, 1875-present.
Note:
  • This church was organized by twenty-eight members from the First Church who believed in the Halfway Covenant in 1669.
  • This congregation occupied King's Chapel from 1777 to 1782 during the Revolutionary War when that church's ministers fled.
  • This church joined with the Park Street Church to form the City Mission Society for the purpose of serving the city's poor in 1816. These records are held by the Congregational Library, RG 1031, Boston.
Records:
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
Ministers: [with years served]
Thomas Thacher (1670-1678) John Bacon (1771-1775) Jacob M. Manning (1857-1882)
Samuel Willard (1678-1707) John Hunt (1771-1775) George Angier Gordon (1884-1927)
Ebenezer Pemberton (1700-1717) Joseph Eckley (1779-1811) Russell Henry Stafford (1927-1945)
Joseph Sewall (1713-1769) Joshua Huntington (1808-1819) Frederick M. Meek (1946-1973)
Thomas Prince (1718-1758) Benjamin B. Wisner (1821-1832) James W. Crawford (1974-2002)
Alexander Cumming (1761-1763) Samuel H. Stearns (1834-1836) Nancy S. Taylor (2005-20--)
Samuel Blair (1766-1769) George W. Blagden (1836-1872)
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6. French Huguenot Church, 1686-1748/1764.

Locations:
  • Boston offered the use of the Boston Latin School on School Street for as long as they needed, 1685-1715.
  • They purchased land on School Street in 1704 but were not allowed to build their church until 1715.
Note:
  • They sold their building to the Eleventh Congregational Church in 1748 as there were only seven congregants left.
  • Commemorative plaque about their church [no location given].
Records:
  • No extant records.
Publications:
Ministers: [with years served]
Laurentius Van den Bosch (1685-1685) Ezechiel Carre (1689-1691) Pierre Daille (1696-1715)
David de Bonrepos (1686-1688) Daniel Bondet (1694-1696) Andre Le Mercier (1715-1764)
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7. King's Chapel, 1688.

Wikipedia page.
Location:
  • 58 Tremont Street at the corner with School Street has been its only location.
Note:
  • The first building was a small wooden meeting house where the current building now standing, 1689, see sketch.
  • Box pews were built in 1712.
  • First church organ in New England installed here in 1714.
  • A larger building of Quincy granite replaced the dilapidated wooden structure. The lot to the east was purchased for the expansion. Work began in 1749 and the church opened in 1754. See a view in 1843 in a Philip Harry painting.
  • There was no minister for this church when the British were driven out in 1776. The building, then called the Stone Chapel, was used by the Old South Meeting House congregational with some of the old parishioners until the church settled a minister in 1782.
  • The Minister Rev. Henry Caner left for Halifax, N.S., with the church records in 1776. Seemingly these have been returned.
  • This congregation temporarily merged with Trinity Church from 1777 to 1781.
  • This church severed its ties with the Church of England in 1785, it has kept a quasi-Episcopalian form of church government, and considered Unitarian.
Records:
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
  • Francis William Pitt Greenwood, A History of King's Chapel, in Boston: The First Episcopal Church in New England (Boston, 1833), xii, 215 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Henry Wilder Foote, King's Chapel and the Evacuation of Boston: A Discourse (Boston, 1876), 23 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Henry Wilder Foote, Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan Age to the Present Day (Boston, 1882-1896), 2v.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive (v. 1 and v. 2).
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • A Brief Sketch of the History of King's Chapel ([Boston, 1898]), 9 pp.
    Digital version at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • John Carroll Perkins, Some Distinguished Laymen in King's Chapel History (Boston, [1936]), 17 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • John Carroll Perkins, Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan Age to the Present Day (Boston, 1940), 3rd v.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Andre Mayer, King's Chapel: The First Century, 1686-1787 (Boston, 1976), 36 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Carl Scovel, Deborah A. Cozart, Nancy L. Kessner, Guide to the Archives of King's Chapel, 1686-1899 (S.l., 1979?), 110 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Karen E. McArthur, Of Paramount Importance: The Women of the Chapel, 1686-1986 (Boston, 1990), 22 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Carl Scovell and Charles C. Forman, Journey Toward Independence: King's Chapel's Transition to Unitarianism: The 1989 Minns Lecture (Boston, 1993), 103 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
Robert Ratcliffe (1686-1689) F. W. P. Greenwood (1836-1843) Palfrey Perkins (1933-1955)
Samuel Myles (1689-1728) Ephraim Peabody (1845-1856) Joseph Barth (1955-1965)
Roger Price (1729-1746) H. W. Foote (1861-1889) Carl Scovel (1967-1999)
Henry Caner (1747-1776) Howard Brown (1895-1921) Matthew McNaught (1999-2001)
American Revolution and Interregnum Harold Speight (1921-1926) Earl K. Holt III (2001-2009)
James Freeman (1782-1836) John Carroll Perkins (1926-1933) Dianne E. Arakawa (2009-20--)
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8. Fourth Church, Brattle Street Church, and last the Church in Brattle Square, 1698-1876.

Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • Brattle Street at Brattle Square.
  • Wood church building replaced by a brick building in 1772. See 1853 image of church.
  • Church building demolished on Brattle Street in 1872.
  • Started building a building at 110 Commonwealth Avenue at the corner of Clarendon Street in 1873. See image of church.
  • Opened the church at the new location in 1875 as the Brattle Square Church and then closed in 1876.
Notes:
  • The church was organized as a Congregational Church in 1698.
  • This church was also called the Manifesto Church for publishing its practice that differed from other Puritan churches in 1699.
  • This church at one time was called the Brattle Square Church.
  • The church moved to Unitarianism in 1805.
  • The church was rebuilt in 1872, but this proved financially burdensome that it was sold in 1876 and the society ended.
  • Church building on Commonwealth Avenue sold to the First Baptist Church in 1882.
Records:
  • The Brattle Street Church records, 1841-1872, burned in the Great Fire of 1872 according to the 1885 survey of public records.
  • Original church record book, 1699-1804, missing per Harold F. Worthley in 1970.
  • Church in Brattle Square, records, ca. 1699-1887, held by Boston Public Library, Rare Books, Mss. Ms.Bos.Z15.
  • Church in Brattle Square, records, held by the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, bMS 1, 1855-1884.
  • Part of "Index to Church records," card index to church records held by the City Clerk, this card index held by Boston City Archives.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
Ministers: [with years served]
Benjamin Colman (1699-1747) Peter Thacher (1785-1802) John Gorham Palfrey (1813-1831)
William Cooper (1716-1743) Joseph Stevens Buckminster (1805-1812) Samuel Kirkland Lothrop (1834-1876)
Samuel Cooper (1747-1783) Edward Everett (1814-1815)
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9. Fifth Church or New North Church, 1714-1863/1884.

Location:
  • North Street and became part of Hanover Street in 1824, now 401 Hanover Street. See 1843 sketch.
Notes:
  • This church was founded by members from the Second or Old North Church and built in 1714.
  • This church was rebuilt in 1730.
  • This church started building a brick church on North Street [now 401 Hanover Street] in the North End in 1802 and opened in 1804.
  • The building was sold to the Roman Catholics and renamed St. Stephen's Church in 1862.
  • This church merged with the Bulfinch Street Church in 1863 though this church society was active until 1884. The merged church ceased not long after this date.
Records:
  • New North Church, records of minutes, baptisms, marriages, and deaths, 1714-1870, being church registers, v. 1 (1714-1797) and v. 2 (1813-1870), held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.f.Bos.Z2.
  • New North Church, minutes of the New North Religious Society, 1860-1884, held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.f.Bos.Z2.
  • New North Church, records, 1714-1863 (microfilm), FS Library films 837130 Item 1 and 856699 Item 5, being church registers, 1714-1797 and 1800-1863.
  • New North Church, Record of the sales of pews, 1799-1813, [50] pp., held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.F.4.4.
  • Minutes of the New North Religious Society, 1860-1884 (microfilm), held by the Boston Public Library.
    Are original records held by the Rare Books and Manuscript Department?
    WorldCat (Other Libraries).
  • "A list of marriages performed by John Webb," Mss C 1025, R Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society, and digital version at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
  • New North Church (Boston, Mass.) records, 1798-1813, Mss A 5367, R Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society.
    End sheet has "2d volume of records of the New North Church" and include meeting minutes, baptisms, marriages, lists of councils and ordinations, and deaths.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
Ministers: [with years served]
John Webb (1714-1750) Francis Parkman (1813-1845+) Arthur B. Fuller (1853-1859)
Peter Thatcher (1723-1739) Amos Smith (1842-1845+) Robert C. Waterston (1859-1860+)
Andrew Eliot (1742-1778) Joshua Young (1849-1853) William R. Alger (1855?-1872+)
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10. Sixth Church or New South Church, 1719-1866.

Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • The group built their wooden church on the Summer Street at Blind Lane [later Pond Street and now Bedford Street] in 1719 on land deeded by the town in 1715.
  • A new building of granite was erected on the same site in 1814. See circa 1850 image.
  • Conflicting facts say the building was either demolished in 1868 or destroyed by the Great Fire of 1872.
  • 101-113 Summer Street where the church stood was designated the Church Green Historic District in 1999.
Notes:
  • This church merged with the Suffolk Street Chapel and the Concord Street Chapel and reorganized in 1867 as a Unitarian church. The new church did not survive long after the merger per Harold Worthley (1970), but it appears as the New South Church in the 1885 survey.
Records:
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
Ministers: [with years served]
Samuel Checkley (1719-1769) John Thornton Kirkland (1794-1810) Alexander Young (1825-1854)
Penuel Bowen (1766-1772) Samuel Cooper Thacher (1811-1818) Orville Dewey (1857-1862)
Joseph Howe (1773-1775) F. W. P. Greenwood (1818-1821) William P. Tilden (1862-1866)
Oliver Everett (1782-1792)
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11. Seventh Church or New Brick Church, 1722-1779.

Locations:
  • Middle Street [now part of Hanover Street] at the corner of Wood Lane [later called Word Street on 1775 map, Proctor's lane by 1796, and now Richmond Street since 1824].
Note:
  • This church was organized by seceding members of the Fifth Church in 1722 and shown on the Bonner's Boston map of 1722 called New No. Brick Church, 1721.
  • It was called the Middle Street Church on Middle Street [later Hanover Street] in a travel guide of 1732.
  • After the destruction of the Second Church by British troops in 1779, this church merged with and became the Second Church.
Records:
  • Agreement among subscribers to build New Brick Church, 1720, Mss C 5144, R Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society, with online copy ($).
  • New Brick Church, records, 1722-1775, bound volume, [34 pp.], containing various records: church records (1722-1754), baptisms (1722-1775), owners of covenant (1728-1757), and admission to full membership (1722-1773), held by Boston Public Library - Special Collections.
  • New Brick Church, records, 1722-1776, FS Library 856701 Item 4.
  • New Brick Church, committee book, 1761-1800 [sic], one stitched quire, [76 pp.], held by Boston Public Library - Special Collections.
  • New Brick Church, committee records, 1761-1800, held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.Bos.Z16(2).
  • New Brick Church, records of covenant (1728-1757), admissions (1722-1773), church records (1722-1754), and baptisms (1722-1775), held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.Bos.Z16(1) fol.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
  • Henry Ware, Two discourses containing the history of the Old North and New Brick Churches, united as the Second Church in Boston: delivered May 20, 1821, at the completion of a century from the dedication of the present meeting-house in Middle-Street (Boston, 1821), 60 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Chandler Robbins, A History of the Second Church, or Old North, in Boston: to which is added a History of the New Brick Church (Boston, 1852), viii, 320 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 K2rc.
  • Thomas B. Wyman, "New Brick Church, Boston List of Person connected therewith from 1722 to 1775" in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 18 [1864]: 237-240, 337-344; 19 [1865]: 230-235, 320-324.
Ministers: [with years served]
William Waldron (1722-1727) Ellis Gray (1738-1753) Ebenezer Pemberton (1754-1777)
William Welsted (1728-1753)
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12. Christ's Church, but commonly called the Old North Church, 1722.

Wikipedia page.
Location:
  • The church was built at what is now numbered as 193 Salem Street in the North End at the foot of Copp's Hill in 1732.
    The is Boston's oldest church building.
Notes:
  • Organized as the second Anglican church in Boston in 1722.
  • They built a stone church on Salem Street that opened in 1723.
  • The church was closed during the Revolution from April 1775 to August 1778.
  • The church steeple used by Sexton Robert Newman who hangs two lanterns at the request of Paul Revere to warn that the British were sailing up the Charles River to Cambridge to march on Lexington.
  • The steeple was blown down in October 1804 and replaced in 1806.
  • The church built the Salem Street Academy on the north side of its property in 1810 and the schoolhouse begins Boston's first Sunday school in 1815.
  • A building on the east side of the church is built for Sunday school in 1834.
  • The Italian Protestant Chapel of St. Francis is built on the south side of the church property for the Italian Waldensians.
  • Christ Church modified its administrative structure and as such was no longer organized as a parish.
  • The church is re-incorporated as Christ Church in the City of Boston in 1947.
  • The steeple was blown down by Hurricane Carol in August 1954 and rebuilt in May 1955.
  • The church crypt was in use from 1732 to 1853 containing 37 tombs holding an estimated 1100 bodies and archeologists began examining this in 2009.
Records:
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
Rectors: [with years served]
Timothy Cutler (1723–1765) John Woart (1840–1852) Ernest Joseph Dennen (1927-1930)
James Greaton (1759–1767) William T. Smithett (1853–1860) Francis Ellsworth Webster (1930-1939)
Mather Byles (1768–1775) John T. Burrell (1861-1868) Henry Knox Sherrill (1939-1941)
Stephen Christopher Lewis (1778–1785) Henry Burroughs (1868–1882) William Henry Paine Hatch (1941-1946)
William Montague (1786-1792) William H. Munroe (1882-1892) Charles Russell Peck (1946-1956)
William Walter (1792-1800) Charles W. Duane (1893–1911) Howard Pearson Kellett (1956-1971)
Samuel Haskell (1801-1803) William Lawrence (1912-1914) Robert W. Golledge (1971-1997)
Asa Eaton (1803-1829) William Herbert Dewart (1914-1927) Stephen T. Ayers (1997-20--)
William Croswell (1829-1839)
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13. Trinity Church [and now officially Trinity Church in the City of Boston], 1728/1734.

Wikipedia page.
Location:
  • The first church building was made of wood was erected in 1734 and stood on Summer Street at the corner of Hawley Street. [See wood engraving].
  • The wooden building was torn down in 1828 and a Gothic church of unhewn granite was built on the same site that opened in 1829. [See 1870 photo].
  • The church was moved to 206 Clarendon Street in Back Bay in 1877. [See photo].
Note:
  • This is the third Anglican church in Boston.
  • The church is a Episcopal "low church."
  • A gift of land on Summer Street was given in 1728.
  • The Vestry voted to move the church in 1870.
  • The lot in Back Bay is purchased in January 1872 and the building planning started.
  • The Great Fire of 1872 destroyed the second building on Summer Street in November (see image). The congregation used Huntington Hall of the Institute of Technology.
  • The third church at its present location is opened 9 February 1877.
Records:
  • Trinity Church records, have been deposited at the Massachusetts Historical Society, unprocessed, and thus no access.
  • Trinity Church records, 1820-1869, FS Library film 1306087 Item 1.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
Rectors: [with years served]
Addington Davenport (1740–1746) Manton Eastburn (1842–1868) Theodore Parker Ferris (1942–1972)
William Hooper (1747–1767) Phillips Brooks (1869–1891) Thom Williamson Blair (1974–1981)
William Walter (1768–1776) Elijah Winchester Donald (1892–1904) Spencer Morgan Rice (1982–1992)
Samuel Parker (1779–1804) Alexander Mann (1905–1922) Samuel T. Lloyd III (1993–2005)
John Sylvester John Gardiner (1805–1830) Henry Knox Sherrill (1923–1930) Anne Berry Bonnyman (2006–2011)
George Washington Doane (1831–1832) Arthur Lee Kinsolving (1930–1940) Samuel T. Lloyd III (2011–20--)
Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (1833–1838) Oliver James Hart (1940–1942)
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14. Long Lane Church [later the Federal Street Church and now the Arlington Street Church], 1729.

Wikipedia pages: Federal Street Church and Arlington Street Church.
Locations:
  • A barn on Long Lane [called Federal Street since 1788] at the corner of Bury Street [called Berry Street in 1803 and finally Channing Street since 1845] was converted into a meeting house in 1729.
  • A wooden church building was erected on the same spot in 1744.
  • A brick church building was erected on the same spot in 1809. [See photo].
  • The congregation moved and built a new church on Arlington Street at the corner of Boylston Street in Back Bay in 1862. [See photo of new building].
Note:
  • This church was organized by Irish immigrants and governed it in the Presbyterian style of church governance in 1729.
    It was known as the Long Lane Church on Long Lane [later named Federal Street] in 1732 and sometimes called The Church of the Presbyterian Strangers.
  • The church dismissed the three men governing the church in 1774. William McAlpine, one of the three, refused to relinquish the records and took them with him to Halifax, N.S., and then to Glasgow, Scot., where he died in 1788. These early records have been presumed lost.
  • The church adopted the congregational form of church governance in 1787.
  • Massachusetts Convention held at this church where the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
  • William Ellery Channing, pastor of this church, defines "Unitarian Christianity" in a sermon delivered in Baltimore that launched the Unitarian movement in the United States.
  • The American Unitarian Association was founded at this church in 1825.
  • The Benevolent Fraternity, a first-ever social agency of this kind, formed at the church.
  • The congregation voted to build a new building in Back Bay in 1859. They move there in 1862 and the congregation was renamed the Arlington Street Church.
  • The Second Universalist Church (1817) merged with this church in 1935.
  • Church members found the Freedom Center in 1970.
  • The Samaritans started at this church in 1970
Records:
  • Church records before 1786 were said to be missing (see note above) in 1885 survey, but they seem to have been located as listed below.
  • Arlington Street Church (Boston, Mass.), records, 1730-1979, held by Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School.
    Note: Jermey Belknap's list of families in the parish with information about "inoculation" of members, and records of deaths from smallpox in Boston, 1702-1792, available online.
  • Federal Street Church, records, 1774-1803, 1 v., held by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Ms. N-81.
  • Federal Street Church (Boston, Mass.), records, 1787-1830, 1 v. ([33] pp.), Mss A 5368, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society.
  • Federal Street Church, pew records, 1803-1804, 1 v., held by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Ms. N-1865.
  • Arlington Street Church (Boston, Mass.), records, 1927-1980, held by Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
  • Memoir of the Federal Street Church & Society ([Boston, 1824?]), [33]-47 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Harriet E. Johnson, "The Early History of Arlington Street Church" in Unitarian Historical Society Proceedings, 5 [1937]: 15-37.
    Journal: WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
    Reprinted, n.d.: WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Bertha Langmaid, A Brief History of Arlington Street Church: delivered before the New England Associate Alliance, January 15, 1953 ([Boston], 1953), [12] pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • The Century and the Quest: Commemorating the Centennial Celebration of the Arlington Street Church, Unitarian-Universalist, Boston, Mass. 1861-1961 ([Boston, 1961?]), [14] pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
Code to Ministers: [C] Congregational; [P] Presbyterian; [U] Unitarian; [UU] Unitarian Universalist
John Moorhead (1729–1773) [P] John F. W. Ware (1872–1881) [U] Jack Mendelsohn (1959-1969) [UU]
Robert Annan (1783–1786) [P] Brooke Herford (1882–1892) [U] Mwalimu Imara (1970-1974) [UU]
Jeremy Belknap (1787–1798) [C] John Cuckson (1892-1900) [U] Ministry by members (1974-1976) [UU]
John Snelling Popkin (1799–1802) [C] Paul Revere Frothingham (1900-1926) [U] Victor H. Carpenter (1976-1987) [UU]
William Ellery Channing (1803–1842) [C, U, UU] Samuel Atkins Eliot (1927-1935) [U] Farley Wheelwright (1987-1989) [UU]
Ezra Stiles Gannett (1824–1871) [U] Dana McLean Greeley (1935-1958) [U, UU] Kim K. Crawford Harvie (1989-20--) [UU]
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15. Eighth Church, Harvard Street Church, South Meeting House, but later known as Hollis Street Church, 1732-1887.

Hollis Street Church Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • A wooden church building was built on Hollis Street [called Harvard Street in 1732].
  • The church was burnt in 1787 and a new one rebuilt in its place in 1788.
  • This building was sold, taken down, and removed to Braintree in 1810.
  • A new brick building was built on the same spot in 1811. [See sketch of the Hollis Street Church.]
  • A new building was erected at 180 Newbury Street on the southeast corner of Exeter Street in 1884.
Notes:
  • The church became Unitarian in 1800.
  • Some congregants left to form the South Congregational Society in 1825.
  • This church merged with the South Congregational Church that took over the building in 1887 and that ultimately merged with the First Church of Boston in 1925.
Records:
  • Records, 1732-1789 said by Harold Worthley to be held by the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1970, but they could not be located in their catalog.
  • Hollis Street Church (Boston, Mass.) account ledger, 1787-1788, held by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Ms. N-1407 (Tall).
  • Hollis Street Church records, [1787-1879], Andover-Harvard Theological Library, bMS 5, Harvard Divinity School.
  • Hollis Street Church, proprietors' records, 1809-1887, held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.f.Bos.Z4.
  • Hollis Street Church, membership, meetings, and baptisms, 1732-1739 (by Mather Byles), held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.q.Am.2290.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
  • John Pierpont, Proceedings in the controversy between a part of the proprietors and the pastor of Hollis Street Church: 1838 and 1839 (Boston, [1839]), 60 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • George Leonard Chaney, Hollis Street Church from Mather Byles to Thomas Starr King, 1732-1861: two discourses given in Hollis Street meeting-house, Dec. 31, 1876, and Jan. 7, 1877 (Boston, 1877), 70 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Ogden Codman, Robert J. Dunkle, and Ann S. Lainhart, Hollis Street Church, Boston : records of admissions, baptisms, marriages, and deaths, 1732-1887 (Boston, 1998), 295 pp.
    Note: Based on Ogden Codman, "Hollis Street Church, Boston: records of admissions, baptisms, marriages and deaths, 1732-1887" (ms., 1918), Mss 293a, Manuscripts Dept., New England Historic Genealogical Society that was microfilmed, FS Library film 856698 Item 1.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 K2c.
Ministers: [with years served]
Mather Byles (1732-1777) Horace Holley (1809-1818) Thomas Starr King (1848-1860)
Ebenezer Wight (1778-1778) John Pierpont (1819-1845) George Leonard Chaney (1862-1877)
Samuel West (1789-1808) David Fosdick (1846-1847) Henry Bernard Carpenter (1878-1887)
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16. Ninth Church, West Church or Lynde Street Church, 1737-1889.

Locations:
  • The first church was built of wood on Lynde Street at the corner of Cambridge Street in 1737.
  • The wooden structure was torn down and an enlarged brick building constructed in its place all during 1806. The church now faced 131 Cambridge Street. [See an image of the West Church of Boston].
Notes:
  • British troops occupying the town during the Revolution used this church as a barracks.
  • The church was reorganized as a Unitarian Church in 1806.
  • The congregation's 1806 building was deeded to the city in 1894 and served as a branch of the library. The First Methodist Church and Copley Religious Society merged in 1962, bought this building from the city, and became Old West Church, a United Methodist congregation.
Records:
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
  • Brief history of the First Free Congregational Church: with the articles of faith, and covenant, ecclesiastical regulations and a list of its members (Boston, 1840), 48 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Edward Wheelwright, "Records of the West Church, Boston, Mass. Baptisms, 1737-1854" in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 91 [1937]: 340-354; 92 [1938]: 10-28, 116-134, 242-260, 342-358; 93 [1939]: 58-66, 114-124, 250-263, 314-326; 94 [1940]: 38-47, 155-163, 290-297, 373-380.
    Note: Plates were struck for the publication of the records of this church by The Colonial Society of Massachusetts, but the project was abandoned and some proof pages were lost. The remaindered were offered to the New England Historic Genealogical Society in 1935, the gaps filled in and published to 1854.
Ministers: [with years served]
William Hooper (1737-1746) Simeon Howard (1767-1804) Cyrus A. Bartol (1861-1889)
Jonathan Mayhew (1747-1766) Charles Lowell (1806-1861)
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17. Tenth Church, Bennett Street Church, or Samuel Mather's Church, 1742-1785.

Locations:
  • The church was built at the corner of Bennett and North [now Hanover] Streets in the North End in 1742.
Notes:
  • Old Light members of the Second Church gathered to form this church with Samuel Mather, its only minister. Per his dying wishes, the members returned to the Second Church at his death. No records survive except the few marriages mentioned below.
  • The church was sold to the First Universalist Church as their first building.
Records:
  • Jeremiah Colburn, "Marriages in Boston, Mass. from the Original Certificates of the Clergymen Officiating" in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 34 [1880]: 96, for 1742.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
  • See above under records.
Ministers: [with years served]
Samuel Mather (1742-1785)
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18. Second Baptist Church, then Baldwin Place Baptist Church, and finally Warren Avenue Baptist Church, 1743-1912.

Locations:
  • Built on the eastern side of Mill Pond in 1746, this wooden structure of was the southern one of two meeting houses there off of Back Street [now Salem Street in the North End] that since 1829 is now called Baldwin Place.
  • A new building was erected on the same spot in 1811.
  • The congregation built a Gothic red brick church on Warren Avenue in the South end in 1866.
Notes:
  • The church changed its name to Baldwin Place Baptist Church between 1832 and 1841.
  • The church merged back with the First Baptist Church in 1920.
  • The South End building was sold at that time and was abandoned in the 1960s when arsonists burnt the building in 1967. The land was cleared and is now the beautiful James Hayes Park.
Records:
  • Second Baptist Church, records, 1743-1787, held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.Bos.Z9.
  • Second Baptist Church, records, 1743-1787, 0824 Microfilm held by the Andover Newton Theological School, Newton, Mass., and also at the Boston Public Library (who had the records microfilmed - and thus likely hold the originals), FS Library film 837132 Item 1.
  • Baldwin Place Baptist Church, records, 1769-1881, FS Library film 856702 Item 2.
  • Second Baptist Church, records, 1787-1793, 0825 and 0826 Microfilm held by the Andover Newton Theological School, Newton, Mass.
  • Second Baptist Church, records, 1789-1811 (transcript), FS Library film 856700 Item 5.
  • "Record of marriages in Boston by Thomas Baldwin, pastor of the Second Baptist Church, 1790-1826", Mss A 1586, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society.
  • Second Baptist Church, records, 1788-1920, 42 volumes, held by the Andover Newton Theological School, Newton, Mass., but not in their online catalog.
Online:
  • Part of Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart, trans., The Records of the Churches of Boston (Boston, 2002). Searchable database at American Ancestors by NEHGS ($).
Publications:
  • Thomas Ford Caldicott, Concise history of the Baldwin Place Baptist Church, together with the articles of faith and practice; also ... calendar of the present members (Boston, 1854), 96 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • "Marriage records of the Rev. Thomas Baldwin, Pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Boston, Massachusetts" in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 125 [1971]: 99-109, 214-223, 287-294; 126 [1972]: 64-68, 141-145, 204-209.
Ministers: [with years served]
Ephraim Boand (1743-1765) Thomas Baldwin (1790-1825) Thomas Ford Caldicott (1853-18xx)
John Davis (1770-1772) James D. Knowles (1825-1832)
Isaac Skillman (1773-1787) Baron Stowe (1832-1848)
Thomas Gair (1788-1790) Levi Tucker (1849-1852)
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19. Eleventh Church, School Street Church, or Rev. Andrew Croswell's Church, 1748-1785.

Locations:
  • This congregation bought the French Huguenot Church on School Street in 1748 just two-thirds a block south and across the street from King's Chapel.
Notes:
  • This church was the gathering of New Lights from several Boston Congregational churches under Rev. Andrew Croswell. After Croswell's death in 1785, the congregation disbanded and sold their church building to Roman Catholics to serve as their first church building.
Records:
  • None known to exist.
Online:
  • None.
Publications:
  • Andrew Croswell, A Narrative of the Founding and Settling The New-gathered Congregational Church in Boston (Boston, 1749), 37, [3] pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
Andrew Croswell (1748-1785)
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20. Sandemanian Society, 1764-ca.1823.

Locations:
  • Their meeting house was off of Middle Street [now Hanover Street] in the North End, between Richmond's Lane and Cross Street.
Notes:
  • From several maps of the period consulted, only "A New Plan of Boston" (Boston, 1806) published by W. Norman actually showed the building.
  • Little has been written on this group started in the United States by the childless Robert Sandeman (1718-1771) who brought the teachings of his father-in-law John Glas (known as Glasites) to America. They were considered pacifist Loyalists.
  • For more information, see the publications below.
Records:
  • There are no known records from this group.
Publications:
  • Glasite Wikipedia page.
  • Caleb H. Snow, A History of Boston (Boston, 2nd ed., 1828), Chap. XLV, p. 256-257.
  • Henry H. Edes, "The Places of Worship of the Sandemanians in Boston" in the Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Transactions, 1899-1900, 6 [1904]: 109-123.
Ministers:
  • No known ministers used by this group.
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21. First Universalist Church, 1785-1864.

Locations:
  • This congregation bought their first church from the Tenth Church otherwise known as Samuel Mather's Church on the corner of Bennet and North [now Hanover] Streets in the North End in 1785.
Notes:
  • Their wooden church (the last one standing in Boston) was torn down in 1838 and a new structure built.
Records:
  • First Universalist Church, proprietors' records, 1792-1815, on microfilm at the Massachusetts Historical Society (but not in their online catalog).
  • First Universalist Church, records, 1792-1909, Andover-Harvard Theological Library, bMS 302, Harvard Divinity School.
    Note: There are no vital records in this collection and most of the post-1864 records are from the Sunday school.
  • First Universalist Church, proprietor's meetings, 1834-1864, held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books, Ms.f.Bos.Z11.
  • First Universalist Church, marriages, 1813-1840, FS Library film 837130 Item 4.
Online:
  • None.
Publications:
  • Thomas W. Silloway, An Historical Discourse delivered in the First Universalist Meeting-House, Boston, Sunday, May 29, 1864, on the occasion of taking final leave of the premises (Boston, [1864?]), 42 pp.
    No Digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
John Murray (1793-1815) Paul Dean (1813-1823)
Edward Mitchell (1816-1817) Sebastian Streeter (1824-18xx)
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22. Church of the Holy Cross and now Cathedral of the Holy Cross, 1788.

Wikipedia page for Holy Cross Boston; Wikipedia page for the Cathedral.
Locations:
  • They bought a church building on School Street from the Eleventh Church or School Street Church in 1788 that was built by the French Huguenot Church in 1715.
  • They built a chapel on the southern end of Franklin Place at what would now be 214 Devonshire Street in 1803. [See an image of the Cathedral in 1859.]
  • Built a new cathedral building at 1400 Washington Street in the South End in 1875.
Notes:
  • Outgrowing the old building on School Street and their lease being up, a committee was formed in 1799. They found a spot with the help of Charles Bulfinch at the southern end of his first of its kind urban designed city block in the United States, Franklin Place (sometimes called the Tontine Crescent). They broke ground in 1800 and the chapel opened in 1803.
  • When the Diocese of Boston was established, the chapel became the Cathedral for the diocese in 1825.
  • The last mass in the Cathedral was in 1860 and the building demolished in 1862.
  • After the delay caused by the Civil War, ground was broken for the new cathedral in 1866. It was dedicated in 1875 as the largest church in New England.
Records:
  • Cathedral of the Holy Cross, baptisms, 1789-1928, marriages 1789-1925, confirmations, 1803, 1810-1823, 1864-1926, burials, 1789-1822, and ordinations, 1815-1822, held by the Archdiocese of Boston Archives.
  • All other records are held by the Cathedral.
Online:
  • None.
Publications:
  • Robert H. Lord, John E. Sexton and Edward T. Harrington, History of the Archdiocese of Boston in the various stages of its development, 1604 to 1943 (New York, 1944), 3 vols.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
  • Thomas H. O'Connor, Boston Catholics: a history of the church and its people (Boston, 1998), xvi, 357 pp.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Priests associated with this church before 1900: [with years served]
C. F. Bouchard de la Peterie (1788-1789) John B. McMahon (1840-1846) Patrick J. Power (1868-1869)
Louis Rousselet (1789-1791) Francis Roloff (1843-1844) James Donegan (1869-1870)
John Thayer (1790-1794) Patrick F. Lyndon (1843-1847) William J. Daly (1870-1873)
Francis A. Matignon (1792-1818) James Maguire (1844) William J. J. Denvir (1870-1872)
John L. de Cheverus (1796-1823) Peter Crudden (1844-1845) Stanislaus Buteux (1871-1872)
John Thayer (1798-1799) George F. Haskins (1844-1852) Theodore A. Metcalf (1873-1879)
J. S. Tisserand (1803) Ch. E. Brasseur de Bourbourg (1845-1846) John B. Smith (1873-1881)
Matthew O'Brien (1804) John J. Williams (1845-1856) John H. Fleming (1874-1875)
F. X. Brosius (1816) Ambrose Manahan (1845-1853) Bernard O'Regan (1874-1882)
Philip Lariscy (1818-1821) Hilary Tucker (1846-1872) Joseph P. Bodfish (1875-1888)
Stephen Cailleaux (1819-1823) Joseph Cooidge Shaw (1847-1848) Lawrence J. O'Toole (1875-1885)
William Taylor (1821-1825) Nicholas J. A. O'Brien (1847-1856) Maurice X. Carroll (1876-1885)
Paul McQuade (1822-1823) Samuel A. Mulledy (1849-1851) Maurice S. Fitzgerald (1876-1879)
Patrick Byrne (1823-1830) Thomas H. Shahan (1849-1851) Matthew McDonnell (1878-1879)
Benedict J. Fenwick (1825-1846) Michael P. Gallagher (1849-1855) Leo P. Boland (1879-1892)
William Wiley (1827-1831) George T. Riordan (1852-1853) Lawrence M. A. Corcoran (1879-1894)
Robert Woodley (1828-1830) Joseph M. Finotti (1852-1857) Thomas Moylan (1880-1883)
Thomas J. O'Flaherty (1829-1833) David Welsh (1853-1854) E. McCarthy (1881-1882)
William Tyler (1829-1844) James Augustine Healy (1855-1866) Denis J. O'Donovan (1882-1883)
Michael Healy (1830-1837) Patrick J. Rogers (1856-1859) Henry A. Sullivan (1882-1902)
Constantine Lee (1830-1832) John T. Roddan (1856-1859) James F. Talbot (1883-1892)
James T. McDermott (1831-1832) Michael Moran (1857-1869) Nicholas R. Walsh (1883-1905)
Patrick McNamee (1832-1833) C. Lyonnet (1859-1860) Richard Neagle (1886-1896)
Edward Walsh (1833-1834) Charles Lynch (1859-1862) Denis J. O'Donovan (1888-1890)
John J. Curtin (1834-1836) Lawrence S. McMahon (1860-1863) Edward Connolly (1892-1895)
William Wiley (1835-1836) A. Sherwood Healy (1862-1875) Peter J. Walsh (1894)
Patrick O'Beirne (1835-1836) B. O'Reilly (1863-1864) Thomas J. McCormack (1894-1907)
James Conway (1836-1839) John H. Cornell (1863-1864) John T. Mullen (1895-1907)
Franz Salesius Hoffman (1836) Angelo M. Baret (1863-1865) Francis X. Dolan (1895-1908)
William Fennelly (1838-1842) William Byrne (1865-1874) Michael J. Doody (1896-1903)
Edward Freygang (1838) John J. Williams (1866-1907) Joseph V. Tracy (1898-1903)
Terence Fitzsimmons (1839-1840) Emiliano Gerbi (1866-1868)
Richard Hardey (1840-1845) Patrick F. Lyndon (1866-1870)
John B. Fitzpatrick (1840-1866) William H. Fitzpatrick (1867-1869)
Adolph Williamson (1840-1843) J. B. Purcell (1868-1873)
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23. First Methodist Episcopal Church (1792-1828), North Bennett Street Methodist Episcopal Church (1828-1849), later the Hanover Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and since 1873 called Grace Church, 1792-1962.

Locations:
  • The congregation erected a small church off of North Street [now Hanover Street] called Methodist Alley across from Charter Street in the North End in 1796.
  • They built a second church a couple blocks away on North Bennett Street in 1828.
  • They moved to the Cockerel Church on Hanover Street in 1849.
  • After merging, the church moved to Temple Street in 1873.
Notes:
  • The Richmond Street Methodist Episcopal Church (1842) merged with this church in 1849.
  • They sold their North Bennett Street location to the Freewill Baptist Society in 1850.
  • The front of the church was demolished in 1869 for the widening of Hanover Street.
  • The Four Methodist Episcopal Church or North Russell Street Methodist Episcopal Church (1837) merged with this church in 1873.
  • This church merged with the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in 1873 to form the First Methodist Episcopal Church (Temple Street) but variously called First Methodist Church, Grace Methodist Church, or the Temple Street Methodist Church(sometimes using all three names).
  • This church merged with Copley Methodist Church in 1962 and formed a new church called First-Copley Methodist Church (that later became Old West Methodist Church).
Records [most records missing before 1873, but what survives follows]:
Online:
  • None.
Publications:
  • None researched.
Ministers [very incomplete - help needed]: [with years served]
Joseph Lee (1792-xxxx) Eprhaim Wiley (1828-1829)
J. Bonney (1830)
A. D. Merrill (1831)
J. Lindsay (1832-1833)
D. Fillmore (1834-1835)
Abel Stevens (1836)
A. D. Sargent (1837)
J. C. Pierce (1838-1839)
James Porter (1840-1841)
Mark Trafton (1842-1843)
Jonathan D. Bridge (1845)
Miner Raymond (1846)
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[NOTE: Churches after 1800 have had less research done on their entries.]


24. First Christian Church, 1804.

Locations:
  • They built a building at the corner of Summer and Broad Streets in 1825.
  • By 1855, they were on Tyler Street and the corner of Kneeland Street.
  • There was no listing for this church after 1895.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Abner Johnes (1804-1807) J. V. Himes (1830-1837) Perry W. Sinks (in 1880)
Elias Smith (1816-1817) Simon Clough (1837-1839) Edward Edmunds (in 1885-1895+)
Simon Clough (1819-1824) Edwin Burnham (1839-1840)
Charles Morgredge (1825-1826) J. S. Thompson (1841-1844)
Isaac C. Goff (1828-1829) Edmond Edmonds (1844-1875+)
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25. African Baptist Church, Independent Baptist Church, and the Belknap Street Church, 1805.

African Meeting House Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • Their church was on Belknap Street [now called 46 Joy Street] on Beacon Hill in 1806 and commonly called the African Meeting House.
Notes:
  • This is the oldest Black church in the United States.
  • The New England Anti-Slavery Society was founded here by William Lloyd Garrison in 1832.
  • The Massachusetts 54th Regiment recruited here in 1863.
  • The church was there as late as 1872.
  • The building was purchased and used as a Jewish synagogue until 1972.
  • The church was at Smith Court [Note: The Beacon Hill court is behind 46 Joy Street and a second one is in Roxbury] in 1885.
  • The church was not listed in the city directory in 1888.
  • The Joy Street building was acquired by the Museum of African American History in 1972
  • The Joy Street building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974.
  • The Joy Street building was renovated back to its 1854 design in 2011.
Records:
  • No records have been located at this time.
Ministers: [with years served]
Thomas Paul (1805-1829) George H. Black (1838-1841) H. H. White (ca. 1864)
John Peak (ca. 1830) John T. Raymond (1841-1845) [No minister in 1865]
Washington Christian (1832-1832) William B. Serrington (ca. 1848-1849) Alexander Ellis (1868-ca. 1875)
Thomas Ritchie (ca. 1832) A. T. Wood (1850) [No minister in 1880]
Samuel Gooch (1832-1834) William Thompson (1850-1853) Peter Smith (ca. 1885)
John Given (1834-1835) Thomas Henson (ca. 1856-1858)
Armstrong W. Acher (1836-1837) J. Sella Martin (1860-1862)
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26. Second Methodist Church and later Bromfield Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 1806-1913.

Locations:
  • They built a chapel on Bromfield Street in 1806.
Notes:
  • Black congregants were given their own minister in 1818 and a separate church on May Street in 1823.
  • The church became independent in 1831 and listed as Boston South until 1835.
  • The church was remodeled in 1848.
  • The church was burned and rebuilt in 1864.
  • The church was repaired in 1895.
  • The church merged with Tremont Street Methodist Church to form the Bromfield-Tremont Methodist Church on Tremont Street in 1913.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Stephen Lovell (1841-1845) V. M. Simons (in 1872) W. T. Perrin (in 1905)
Stephen Remington (1845-1849) Frederick Woods (in 1875) G. F. Durgin (in 1910)
Loranus Crowell (1849-1854) A. H. Kendig (in 1880)
William Rice (1854-1860) David H. Els (in 1885)
William Warren (1860-1865) G. A. Crawford (in 1888 and 1890)
W. F. Mallalieu (1865-1870) L. B. Bates (in 1895)
George Prentice (in 1870) John Galbraith (in 1900)
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27. Third Baptist Church and later Charles Street Baptist Church, 1807-1877.

Locations:
  • They built a church on Charles Street in 1807.
Notes:
  • The church was disbanded in 1877.
  • The church was officially dissolved on 6 June 1889.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Caleb Blood (1807-1810) John C. Stockbridge (1853-1860+) William V. Gardner (in 1870 through 1875)
Daniel Sharp (1812-1853) [No minister in 1865]
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28. Park Street Church, 1809-present.

Park Street Church Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • This church was built at One Park Street at the corner of Tremont Street in 1810.
Notes:
  • The cellar of this church was designed as a cemetery.
  • The Handel and Haydn Society of Boston was organized here in 1815.
  • The church started a Sunday school program in 1816.
  • Major renovations to the interior were done in 1840.
  • America's first radio ministry began here in 1923.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Edward D. Griffin (1811-1815) William H. H. Murray (1868-1874) Paul E. Toms (1969-1989)
Sereno E. Dwight (1817-1826) John L. Withrow (1876-1887, 1898-1907) David C. Fisher (1989-1995)
Edward Beecher (1826-1830) David Gregg (1887-1890) Pablo Polischuk (1995-1997)
Joel H. Linsley (1832-1836) Isaac J. Lansing (1893-1897) Gordon P. Hugenberger (1997-20xx)
Silas Aiken (1837-1848) Arcturus Z. Conrad (1905-1937)
Andrew Leete Stone (1849-1866) Harold J. Ockenga (1936-1969)
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29. St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 1816-1948.

Locations:
  • They built a church on Broadway in South Boston in 1818.
  • They built a new church at 408/410 West Broadway near E Street in 1861.
Notes:
  • The first two years, services were held in a school house conducted by lay readers.
  • The cemetery and tombs for this church were removed in 1864 and re-interred at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Roslindale [a former section of West Roxbury].
  • The church merged with the Church of the Redeemer to form the new St. Matthew the Redeemer utilizing the building of the latter at 825 E Street in 1948 and then with Grace Church in 1961.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Dr. Gardner (1821-1824) Frederick Wilson (1860-1869) James Sheerin (in 1915)
J. L. Blake (1824-1832) J. I. T. Coolidge (1869-1873) Frank Rathbone (in 1920 and 1925)
M. A. D'W. Howe (1832-1832) John Wright (1873-1887)
E. M. P. Wells (1834-1835) A. E. George (1887-1901)
Horace L. Conolly (1835-1838) William H. Dewart (1902-190?)
Joseph H. Clinch (1838-1860) Ernest N Bullock (in 1905 and 1910)
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30. Second Universalist Church and later Church of the Redemption, 1816-1935.

Locations:
  • The church was dedicated on School Street in 1817.
  • They built their second church on Columbus Avenue in the South End in 1872.
  • They built a third church at 1101 Boylston Street on the corner of Ipswich Street by 1925 and called the Church of the Redemption.
Notes:
  • The church no longer was listed as owning a church in 1920 and was not listing in 1915.
  • Renamed the Church of the Redemption between 1920 and 1926.
  • The church merged with the Arlington Street Church in 1935.
  • Its last building is now the St. Clement Charistic Shine [Roman Catholic].
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Hosea Ballou (1817-1846) Henry I. Ceshman (1868-1872+)
E. H. Chapin (1846-1848) Stephen H. Roblin (in 1895-1926+)
Alonzo A. Miner (1848-1895+)
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31. The New Jerusalem Church [Swedenborg] and now called Church on the Hill, 1818-present.

Locations:
  • The group rented a hall on Phillip's Place and other places.
  • They built a church at 140 Bowdoin Street on Beacon Hill in 1845.
Records:
  • Records are assumed to be at the church.
Ministers: [with years served]
Thomas Worcester (1828-1867) Emanuel F. Goernitz (in 1900)
James Reed (1867-1920+) H. Clinton Hay (in 1905-1926+)
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32. First African Methodist Episcopal Society or May Street Mission (1818-1860),

Revere Street Methodist Episcopal Church (1860-1911),
Fourth Methodist Church (1911-1949), and
Union United Methodist Church (1949-present), 1818-present.
Locations:
  • Their church was on May Street and dedicated on 1824.
  • They moved several doors down to 79 Revere Street [formerly May Street] by 1885.
  • They moved to 712 Shawmut Avenue in the South End in 1911.
  • They moved to Columbus Avenue at Rutland Street in 1949.
Notes:
  • May Street was renamed Revere Street in 1855.
  • By 1860, the church was just called Methodist Episcopal Church.
  • By 1880, the church was called the Revere Street Methodist Episcopal Church at 73 Revere Street.
  • In 1885, the address was listed at 79 Revere Street with no minister given.
  • This church moved to the South End and became the Fourth Methodist Episcopal Church at 712 Shawmut Avenue when the Missionary Society purchased this building for the congregation from the Swedish Baptist Church in 1911, but only had constructed a basement with a roof over it by 1929.
  • The congregation purchased the Union Congregational Church listed below at 485 Columbus Avenue at West Rutland Street, moved there, and became the Union Methodist Church in 1949.
Records:
  • Location of the original records is unknown, but likely reside with the church.
Ministers [very incomplete]: [with years served]
Samuel Snowden (1818-1850) T. B. Snowden (in 1880) J. A. Faust (in 1910)
Thomas Freeman (in 1860) I. H. Haven (in 1888)
J. McKay (1861-1865+) James W. Newell (in 1890)
J. N. Mars (in 1870) [No minister listed in 1895 or 1900]
Jenkins Williams (in 1872) Stephen J. Hammond (in 1905)
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33. Hawes' Place Church, 1819-before 1888.

Locations:
  • They built a church on the corner of K and East Fourth Street in South Boston in 1832 and dedicated in 1833.
NOtes:
  • This was a Unitarian church.
  • This church was not listed as existing or extinct in the 1885 or 1898 records surveys.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
  • Hawes Place Congregational Church records, 1823-1878 (transcript), FS Library film 856700 Item 4.
Ministers: [with years served]
Lemuel Capen (1823-1839) Thomas Dawes (1854-1865) Herman Bisbee (in 1875)
Charles C. Shackford (1841-1844) Frederic Hinckley (1865-1869) Charles B. Elder (in 1885)
George W. Lippet (1844-1851) George A. Thayer (1869-1872+)
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34. Essex Street Church or Union Church, 1819-1948.

Locations:
  • Their church on Essex Street on the corner of Rowe Street [later Chauncy Street] was dedicated in 1819.
  • The church had moved to 485 Columbus Avenue at West Rutland Street in the South End by 1872.
Notes:
  • The church was re-formed out of Sabine's church and called the Union Church.
  • This was an Orthodox Congregational Church.
  • The church had major renovations in 1841.
  • This church was called Congregational Trinitarian in 1860.
  • This church was for the first time called solely Union Church in 1870.
  • This church was purchased by the Fourth Methodist Church listed above in 1949.
Records:
Ministers [incomplete list with years served]:
James Sabine (1819-1822) Frank A. Warfield (in 1880) Allen A. Stockdale (in 1910)
Samuel Green (1823-1834) R. R. Meredith (in 1885) Ernest G. Guthrie (in 1915-1925+)
Nehemiah Adams (1834-1875) Nehemiah Boynton (in 1888-1895+)
Henry M. Parsons (in 1872) Samuel L. Loomis (in 1900-1905+)
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35. St. Augustine's Church, 1819. [Catholic]

Locations:
  • The church was built at 181 Dorchester Street in South Boston in 1819.
Notes:
  • The church was enlarged in 1825.
  • The church was consecrated in 1833.
  • A Catholic cemetery surrounds this church and the building was primarily used for funerals by 1847.
  • The church was listed in 1850, but not in 1855.
  • It was now, since the opening of Saints Peter and Paul's in 1845, been considered a cemetery chapel.
Records:
  • No records are known to exist. Sacraments for here may at the Cathedral and after 1847, Sts. Peter and Paul.
Ministers: [with years served]
Thomas Lynch (1833-1836) M. Lynch (1839-1840)
John Mahony (1836-1839) F. Fitzsimmons (1840-1850+)
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36. St. Paul's Episcopal Church and now called The Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 1820-present.

Cathedral Church of St. Paul Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • They built a stone church on Tremont Street near Winter Street in 1820.
Notes:
  • The church was designated the Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 1912.
Records:
  • Location of original records are likely at the church.
  • St. Paul's Church, baptisms, marriages, and deaths, 1820-1859, FS Library film 856702 Item 1.
Ministers: [with years served]
[Note: For a list of Bishops at this church, see the Diocesan history].
Samuel Farmar Jarvis (1820-1825) William J. Harris (in 1888) John Moses (in 1920)
Alonzo Potter (1826-1831) John S. Lindsay (in 1890-1900+) Micahel Paul St. A. Huntington (in 1920)
John Seely Stone (1832-1841) Edward Tillotson (in 1905) Donald B. Aldrich (in 1925)
Alexander H. Vinton (1842-1859) Edmund Scott Rousmaniere (in 1910-1925+) Charles Russell Peck (in 1925)
William R. Nicholson (1859-1872+) Frank Poole Johnson (in 1910) John W. Suter Jr. (in 1925)
Treadwell Walden (in 1875-1877) Frederick J. Walton (in 1915-1925+) Allen W. Clark (in 1925)
William Wilberforce Newton (1877-1882) Artley B. Parson (in 1915)
Frederick Courtney (in 1885) Henry Goddard (in 1920-1925+)
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37. Bulfinch Street Church, 1822-1863.

Locations:
  • They built their church on Bulfinch Street in 1823.
Notes:
  • This Society was formed as Universalist and changed to a Unitarian Society.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Paul Dean (1823-1840) Frederick T. Gray (1839-1855) William R. Alger (1855-1860+)
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38. Leyden Church or Green Street Church, 1823-1844.

Locations:
  • This church was located on Green Street in the West End and dedicated in 1826.
Notes:
  • This was a Trinitarian church.
  • This church merged with the Garden Street Church and took their minister from 1844 to 1845.
  • This church had some of the congregation of the Leyden Church join them, including their minister, in 1845 to form the Messiah Church in 1844 and disbanded in 1846.
Records:
  • Green Street Church records, 1822-1844, 1 vol., held by the Congregational Library, Boston.
  • Green Street Church (Boston, Mass.) records, 1826-1865, 1 vol., Mss C 5645, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
Ministers: [with years served]
William Jenks (1826-1844) William Chapman (1844-1845) Joseph H. Towne (1844-1845)
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39. Evangelical Congregational Church or Phillips' Church, 1823-present?

Locations:
  • On Fourth Street near C Street in South Boston from 1823 to 1825.
  • The church moved to a small brick church building at the corner of Broadway and A Street from 1825 to 1836.
  • A new and larger building was erected on the same spot in 1836.
  • The built a new church on Broadway near Dorchester Street in 1859.
  • An addition building called Phillips Chapel was dedicated at East 7th Street near I Street in 1883.
  • The congregation worshipped at the Presbyterian Church at Silver and Dorchester Streets from 1948 to 1954.
  • They bought a building on Atlantic Street and Fourth Street in 1954.
  • The congregation bought a second building at 381 West Broadway near E Street in 1983 as their Winipress Christian Resource Center.
  • The church was listed at 2 Atlantic Street in 2000.
Notes:
  • This was a Trinitarian church.
  • The church was renamed the Phillips' Church in 1835.
  • They sold their building on Broadway and A Street in 1858.
  • They sold their building in 1948.
  • The church is a member of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference since 1960.
  • The is no current listing for this church, but it is likely the "Phillips Church in South Boston" located at 68 Eustis Street, Revere, Mass.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Joy H. Fairchild (in 1836-1840) Edmund K. Alden (1859-1875+) Charles A. Dinsmore (in 1900)
William W. Patton (in 1845) R. R. Meredith (in 1880) Frederick B. Richards (in 1910)
John W. Alvord (in 1850-1854) Francis E. Clark (in 1885) Clarence W. Dunham (in 1915)
Charles S. Porter (1854-1859) William H. G. Temple (in 1890) Howard A. Morton (in 1925)
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40. Twelfth Congregational Church, 1825-1863.

Locations:
  • The congregation built a church at 40 Chambers Street between Allen and McLean Streets in the West End [now a Mass. General Hospital building].
Notes:
  • This was a Unitarian church.
  • The church building was updated from its rather plain state in 1831.
  • Hayward's 1847 guide mixed this church with the Chambers Street Church.
  • Church was sold to the Boston Roman Catholic Diocese in 1862 after the court upheld the sale against the wishes of the congregation. The church became St. Joseph Catholic Church.
  • This church was dissolved on 5 Mar. 1863.
Records:
Publications:
  • Lewis G. Pray, Historical Sketch of the Twelfth Congregational Society in Boston (Boston, 1863), xii, 123 pp.
    Digital versions at Hathi Trust.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
Samuel Barrett (1825-1863)
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41. Hanover Street Church and later Bowdoin Street Church, 1825-1861.

Locations:
  • Their house on Hanover Street in the North End was burnt in 1830.
  • The church was found on Bulfinch Street on Beacon Hill in 1830.
  • The group built a new stone church on Bowdoin Street across from Bulfinch Place on Beacon Hill in 1831.
Notes:
  • When the congregants moved to Bowdoin Street, they renamed their church the Bowdoin Street Church.
  • The last minister was dismissed in 1861.
  • The church was dissolved in 1863 and the building sold to the Church of the Advent. The records were donated to the Congregational Library on dissolution.
  • The building is currently [2013] the St. John the Evangelist Church.
Records:
  • The survey of 1885 said these records burnt in the Great Fire of 1872.
  • Bowdoin Street Church records, 1825-1865 (gaps), held by the Congregational Library, RC 0806, Boston.
Ministers: [with years served]
Lyman Beecher (1826-1832) Jared B. Waterbury (1846-1859) Edwin Johnson (1859-1861)
Hubbard Winslow (1832-1844)
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42. Thirteenth Congregational Church or Purchase Street Church, 1825-ca. 1858.

Locations:
  • The first building was on Purchase Street near the weaterfront and Custom House.
  • The group moved to Harrison Avenue at the corner of Beach Street between 1845 and 1850.
Notes:
  • The house was dedicated in 1826.
  • The first minister Ripley left to start the Utopian community of Brook Farm in West Roxbury in 1841.
  • The second minister Coolidge became an Episcopalian after leaving this church.
  • This church was dissolved soon after 1858.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
George Ripley (1826-1841) James I. T. Coolidge (1842-1858)
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43. Tuckerman Chapel, Bulfinch Place Church or Pitts Street Chapel, 1826-1943.

Locations:
  • Not mentioned in city directories during Tuckerman's tenure.
  • The group worshipped in the Friend Street Chapel from 1828 to 1836.
  • The group worshipped in the Pitts Street Chapel from 1836 to 1869.
  • The group moved to Bulfinch Place after that until their merger.
Notes:
  • Joseph Tuckerman was a minister-at-large in the city of Boston.
  • The group was called the Bulfinch Street Society in 1840.
  • This church merged with the Theodore Parker Memorial in 1943.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Joseph Tuckerman (1826-1840) Samuel Hobart Winkley (1846-1896) Robert W. Jones (1927-1931)
Frederic Tarrall Gray (1834-1839) Christopher Rhodes Eliot (1894-1927) Chester Arthur Drummond (1932-1943)
Robert Cassie Waterston (1839-1845) Andrew Dewey Keegan Shurtleff (1898-1901) Agnes Cecelia Larson Cook (1938-1940)
Andrew Bigelow (1845-1846) Harold Lionel Pickett (1923-1926) Ivan Anton Klein (1942-1957)
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44. Salem Street Church, 1827-1879.

Locations:
  • On Salem Street in the North End.
Notes:
  • This church merged with the Mariner's Church in 1887.
Records:
Publications:
  • Stephen H. Hayes, Memorial Volume of Salem Church, Boston, Mass. (Boston, 1874), 52 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
Justin Edwards (1828-1829) Edward Beecher (1844-1855) S. P. Fay (in 1865)
George W. Blagden (1830-1836) Henry Dexter (1849-1856)
Joseph H. Towne (1837-1844) George W. Field (1856-18xx)
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45. Pine Street Church, Berkeley Street Church, or Berkeley Temple, 1827-1907.

Locations:
  • This church was building on Washington Street at the corner of Pine Street in Chinatown.
  • They built a church on Berkeley Street at the corner of Third Avenue [now Warren Avenue] in the South End by 1860.
Notes:
  • This church merged with the Union Church in 1907.
  • By 1865, it was called the Berkeley Street Church.
  • By 1888, it was called the Berkeley Temple.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Thomas Harvey Skinner (1838-1829) Austin Phelps (1842-1848) Edward Anderson (1901-1902)
John Brown (1829-1831) Henry Martin Dexter (1849-1867) William A. Knight (1902-1903)
Amos Augustus Phelps (1832-1834) William Burnet Wright (1867-1886) Allen A. Stockdale (1904-1907)
Artemas Boies (1834-1840) Charles A. Dickinson (1888-1901)
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46. South Congregational Church and sometimes Hale's Church, 1827-1929.

Locations:
  • The church was built on Washington Street at the corner of Castle Street in 1828.
  • The congregation built a new church on Union Park Street in 1861.
  • The merged congregation moved to the southeast corner of Exeter and Newbury Streets in Back Bay in 1887.
Notes:
  • This church was formed from three groups: people of the new South End, members of the over-crowded Hollis Street Church, and friends and supports of Dr. Horace Holley (a former minister of the Hollis Street Church) in 1825.
  • The congregation sold the Union Park Street building to a Jewish organization who turned it into a synagogue in 1887 [it is now St. John the Baptist Greek Church].
  • The congregation merged with its mother church the Hollis Street Church to form the South Congregational Society in 1887.
  • The church merged into the First Church of Boston in 1925.
  • The South Congregational Society was dissolved on 13 May 1929.
Records:
Publications:
  • Edward Everett Hale, Memorials of the History for Half a Century of South Congregational Church, Boston (Boston, 1878), 119 pp.
    Digital version at Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
Ministers: [with years served]
Mellish Irving Motte (1828-1842) Edward Everett Hale (1856-1899) Edward Cummings (1900-1925)
Frederick Dan Huntington (1842-1856)
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47. Federal Street Baptist Church, later Rowe Street Baptist Church, and finally Clarendon Street Baptist Church, 1827-1982.

Locations:
  • The congregation built a church on Federal Street near Milk Street in 1827.
  • The congregation built a new church on Rowe Street [now Chauncey Street] at Bedford Street just north of present-day Chinatown in 1845.
  • The congregation met at the Baldwin Place Baptist Church from June 1868 until April 1869.
  • The congregation built their third church on Clarendon Street at Montgomery Street in the South End in 1869.
Notes:
  • This was Boston's fourth Baptist church called the Federal Street Baptist Church in July 1827.
  • It was called the Rowe Street Baptist Church in April 1846.
  • It was called the Clarendon Street Baptist Church in December 1868.
  • Pastor A. J. Gordon founded the Boston Missionary Training School at the church in 1889 that became Gordon College.
  • The church was burned to the ground in 1982. The front facade with its rose window survived and was incorporated into the new condominiums rebuilt there.
Records:
Publications:
  • A brief history of the Clarendon St. Baptist Church, (formerly Federal Street, afterwards Rowe Street Church) Boston : with the declaration of faith, church covenant, list of members, etc. (Boston, 1872), 126 pp.
    No digital version available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.461 K2bh.
Ministers: [with years served]
Howard Malcolm (1827-1835) S. C. Ohrum (1904-1906) Harold W. Arthur (1940-1943)
George B. Ide (1835-1837) W. C. Minifie (1907-1909) Norman L. Lavers (1943-1946)
Handel G. Nott (1839-1840) James A. Francis (1909-1914) Arlington W. Booker (1947-1950)
William Hague (1840-1848) William Allan (1916-1918) H. L. Sthengaard (1950-1958)
Baron Stow (1848-1867) W. Harry Freda (1919-1924) Normand Norris (1958-1959)
Adoniram Judson Gordon (1868-1895) I. W. Williamson (1925-1929) Frank B. Beck (1959-1964)
J. A. McElwain (1895-1900) Paul G. Jackson (1929-1932) Paul M. Cutting (1964-1969)
Emory W. Hunt (1900-1902) A. A. Forshee (1932-1933) Leonard P. Edwards (1969-1985)
James A. Francis (1902-1903) Daniel Rider (1933-1940)
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48. Bethel Church, 1828-present.

Locations:
Notes:
  • The Mariners' Bethel Church was erected on North Square in the North End by the Boston Port Society in 1830 as a Methodist Episcopal church.
  • Another Methodist church called Bethel Church was formed in 1848.
  • This Bethel Church was listed in the city directories in North Square from 1835 to 1875.
  • This church was called the Mariners' Bethel Church by 1878.
  • The building became the Italian's Church of the Sacred Heart by 1900.
Records:
  • Boston University's Methodist churches of Boston guide say that this group is still active, so perhaps the records of the church might be found with the Boston Port and Seamen's Aid Society who founded the church in 1828.
Ministers: [with years served]
Edward Thompson Taylor (1828-1871) John A. B. Wilson (in 1875) E. R. Watson (in 1880)
George S. Noyes (in 1870-1873+) C. L. Eastman (in 1878) George S. Small (1885-1931)
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49. Mariner's Church, 1828-1871.

Locations:
  • The church was built on Purchase Street in 1829 [see image of the Mariner's Church in 1843].
  • The congregation had moved to Summer Street at the corner of Sea Street [no longer existing] by 1855 and had no settled minister then.
  • The location in 1860 and 1865 was given as Summer Street at the corner of Federal Street [which is likely the same place as before].
Notes:
  • The patrons of this church were connected with the Sailor's Home Society.
  • Record book 1 burned with home and church on 10 July 1852.
  • This church merged with the Salem Street Church in 1871.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Jonathan Greenleaf (1830-1833) George W. Bourne (1849-bef.1855) Elijah Kellogg (1855-1866)
Daniel M. Lord (1834-1849)
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50. St. Stephen's Chapel and later St. Stephen's Church [Episcopal], 1829-1872/1880?

Locations:
  • The congregation built their church on Purchase Street in 1845.
  • The congregation moved to D Street near West Broadway in South Boston by 1875.
  • The congregation moved to Tyler Street at the corner of Kneeland Street in present-day Chinatown by 1880.
Notes:
  • The church was dissolved on 9 Nov. 1872.
  • The name switched from Chapel to Church by 1880.
  • A new church called St. Stephen's Episcopal Church was the re-organization of this chapel in 1891.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Asa Eaton (1829-1837) H. H. Hewett (1869-1871) F. S. Harraden (in 1880)
Mr. [Samuel?] McBurney (1837-1843) Joseph H. Young (in 1875)
E. M. P. Wells (1844-1872+) J. L. Watson (1860-1865+)
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51. Grace Church [Episcopal], 1829-1865(?).

Grace Church Wikipedia page.
Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at a building on Piedmont Street [now Church Street] from 1829 to 1834.
  • The congregation moved to a building on Bedford Street in 1834.
  • The congregation moved to a building on Temple Street in 1836 [see an image of Grace Church in 1836].
Notes:
  • The incorporated name was Grace Church in the City of Boston.
  • This church was dissolved in 1864.
  • Their building was sold to the Methodist Episcopal Society of North Russell Street in 1865.
  • Seemingly part of a merger with the Church of The Redeemer (1875) in 1961.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
James Sabine (1829-1830) Zechariah Mead (1833-1836) Clement Moore Butler (1844-1847)
George F. Haskins (1830-1831) Thomas M. Clark (1836-1842) Charles Mason (1848-1865)
Samuel McBurney (1832-1833)
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[NOTE: Churches after 1830 are a list derived from John Hayward's A Gazetteer of Massachusetts (Boston, 1847)
and city directories with locations given then to which was added the known records found in major
Boston repositories and the microfilm holdings of the FamilySearch Library]


52. Fourth Universalist Society, Broadway Universalist Society, and Church of Our Father, 1830-1920.

Locations:
  • At 540 East Broadway in South Boston.
Notes:
  • The names changed to Church of Our Father by 1880.
  • The church was not listed in the 1920 city directory.
Records:

53. South Baptist Church, 1831-present.

Locations:
  • This group purchased the unoccupied Methodist Religious Society on the southwest corner of Broadway and C Street in South Boston.

54. Third Methodist Episcopal Church or Church Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 1834-1879.

Locations:
  • Church Street in Bay Village.
Notes:
  • Under the leadership of Rev. John W. Hamilton, the congregation developed into the People's Temple in 1877.
Records:

55. Free Will Baptist Church, 1834-bef. 1850.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in Bethel Hall on Union Street near Dock Square.
  • On Fourth Street in South Boston in 1845.
Records:
  • The location of the original records of this church are unknown.
Top of Page


56. First Methodist Society, then D Street Methodist Episcopal Church or Fifth Methodist Episcopal Church, next Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, and finally Broadway Methodist Episcopal Church, 1834-1885.

Locations:
  • Founded in South Boston in 1834 renting Harding Hall.
  • Moved to rented Franklin Hall in 1836.
  • Built a church on D Street in South Boston in 1840.
  • Moved to Broadway in South Boston in 1870.
Notes:
  • The name was change to Centenary in 1850 and due to the building being planned in 1839, the centenary of Methodism.
Records:

57. Warren Street Chapel, Barnard Memorial, Warrenton Street Chapel, and Barnard Memorial Church [Unitarian], 1834-1925.

Locations:
  • Warren Street [now Warrenton Street] in the present-day Theater District.
Notes:
  • This church merged with the Christ Church or Third Unitarian Society in Dorchester in 1925.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Charles Francis Barnard (1834-1866) William Ware Locke (1886-1894) William Ware Locke (1916-1918)
Thomas Bayley Fox (1845-1855) Clarence Adrian Langston (1896-1898) Julius Frederic Krolfifer (1918-1921)
William Gustavus Babcock (1865-1883) Benjamin Franklin McDaniel (1899-1914) Anita Trueman Pickett (1922-1923)
Eber Rose Butler (1880-1889) Paul Harris Drake (1914-1916)
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58. Fifth Universalist Society, Shawmut Universalist Society, (unofficially as) Every-Day Church, and Beacon Universalist Parish, 1835-1943.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at Boylston Hall from 1835 to 1838.
  • They built a brick church on Warren Street [now Warrenton Street] in the present-day Theater District in 1838.
  • They worshipped at the Concord Street Chapel of the South Church for several months in 1863.
  • They bought a church on Shawmut Avenue in the South End in 1863.
  • They move to Harvard Avenue in Brookline in 1905, but sold this building in 1906.
  • They held occasional services in a rented chapel for many years and then were ministered by the Church of our Savior in Waltham from 1939 to 1941.
Notes:
  • This congregation merged with the Church of the Paternity sometime after 1859.
  • The congregation changed its name to Shawmut Universalist Society in 1863.
  • They were joined with the South Universalist Church in 1863.
  • This congregation created the Bethany Union in 1890 to provide a supportive, stable environment for young women.
  • The congregation changed its name to Beacon Universalist Parish' in 1905.
  • The congregation merged with the Church of our Savior in Waltham in 1943.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Otis A. Skinner (1836-1846) Lewis L. Briggs (1867-1876) Charles Conklin (1891-1893)
Joseph S. Dennis (1847-1848) Joseph K. Mason (1876-1880) George L. Perin (1894-1905)
Otis A. Skinner (1849-1857) Henry Blanchard (1880-1882) John Q. Parkhurst (1939-1941)
Thomas B. Thayer (1858-1867) George L. Perin (1883-1890)

59. Franklin Street Church and later Central Church or Central Congregational Church [Trinitarian], 1835-1931.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at the Federal Street Theatre [later called the Odeon] until 1841.
  • They built a church on Winter Street in 1841 [see image of the Central Congregational Church in 1843].
  • They moved to Berkeley Street at the corner of Newbury Street in 1875, which is now numbered as 67 Newbury Street.
Notes:
Records:
  • The location of the original records is likely with the federated church.
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60. First Free Church or Marlborough Chapel [Trinitarian], 1835-1843.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at Congress Hall and Amory Hall from 1835 to 1838.
  • They built the Marlboro Chapel on Washington Street in 1838.
Notes:
  • The largest hall of the several in the new church held 2000 people.
  • The church was split over the doctrine of perfection. A number following the Orthodox view along with the minister William R. Chapman dismissed themselves and organized the new Garden Street Chapel in 1841.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
Ministers: [with years served]
Charles Fitch (1836) William R. Chapman (1840-1841) C. G Finney (1841-1843)
A. A. Phelps (1838-1840) John Starkweather (1841) William P. Russell (1841-1843)

61. North Baptist Church, 1835-ca. 1840

Locations:
  • No known location.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

62. East Boston Unitarian Church or Church of Our Father, 1835-1974.

Locations:
  • On Maverick Street in East Boston in 1865.
  • At 50 Meridan Street in East Boston in 1870 through 1875.
  • At 54 Meridan Street in East Boston in 1880 through 1900.
  • At 85 Marion Street in East Boston in 1905 through 1925.
Notes:
  • The name was changes by 1870.
  • The church building was sold in 1901.
  • The congregation built a new church in 1904.
  • The church was not listed in the city directory from 1931 forward.
Records:
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63. St. Mary's Church [Roman Catholic], 1836-1992.

Locations:
  • The church built on Endicott Street in the North End was consecrated in 1836.
Notes:
  • This church was suppressed on 1 Aug. 1992.
Records:
  • St. Mary's Church, baptisms (1836-1921), marriages (1836-1921), first communions (1866-1915), and confirmations (1866-1911) held by the Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston, Braintree, Mass.
  • All records not listed above have been moved to St. Leonard of Port Maurice in Boston.

64. St. Patrick's Church [Roman Catholic], 1836-present.

Locations:
  • The church built a wooden church on Northampton Street in the South End was consecrated in 1836.
  • The church moved to 10 Magazine Street and the corner of Dudley Street in Roxbury between 1872 and dedicated in 1880.
Records:
  • The identity of this church and thus location of the original records is unknown.

65. Maverick Church [Trinitarian], 1837-bef. 1936.

Locations:
  • The worshipped in a building they built in East Boston in 1837 [the exact location is unknown].
  • They built a church on Maverick Street at Havre Street in East Boston in 1845.
Notes:
  • This church merged with the Baker Congregational Church to form the Baker-Maverick Congregational Church sometime around 1936. That church federated with the St.Andrew's-St. Johns Episcopal Church to form Grace Church Federated in 1949.
Records:
  • The location of the original records are unknown, but likely to be with Grace Church Federated.
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66. St. Mary's Free Church for Sailors or Free Church of St. Mary (for sailors), 1837-1878, 1891-1942.

Locations:
  • On Cottage Street at the corner of Marginal Street in East Boston in 1895.
Notes:
  • This church was not listed in the city directories for the earlier period, nor mentioned in John Hayward's A Gazetteer of Massachusetts (Boston, 1847).
Records:

67. Suffolk Street Unitarian Chapel, 1837-bef. 1865.

Locations:
  • On Suffolk Street [now Shawmut Avenue] likely near Canton Street in the South End.
Notes:
  • This church was gone by 1865.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

68. Second African Methodist Episcopal Church or Zion Church and now Columbus Avenue African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1838-present.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in a house on West Centre Street [now Anderson Street] on back side of Beacon Hill in 1841.
  • The congregation moved to the nearby 28 North Russell Street in 1866.
  • The congregation moved to Columbus Avenue at the corner of Northampton Street in the South End in 1902.
Notes:
  • This Methodist Episcopal church was a church of black congregants that left the Revere Street Methodist Church.
  • The name changed when the church moved to Columbus Avenue.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown, but likely to be with the church.
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69. Fourth Methodist Episcopal Church or North Russell Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 1839-1873.

Locations:
  • The congregation built a church on North Russell Street in the West End in 1839.
Notes:
  • This congregation merged with the First Methodist Episcopal Church (1792) in 1873.
Records:

70. Harvard Street Church [Baptist], 1839.

Locations:
  • The congregation first worshipped at Boylston Hall and then Meldeon Hall.
  • They built a church on Harvard Street at the corner of Harrison Avenue in present-day Chinatown in 1842 through 1905.
Notes:
  • The church was not listed in the 1910 city directory.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

71. First Baptist Free Church or Tremont Street Baptist Church, 1839-1863.

Locations:
  • The congregation first worshipped at a hall on Tremont Street at the corner of Bromfield Street.
  • They bought the Tremont Theater and converted it into Tremont Temple in 1843.
Notes:
  • This church changed its name to the Tremont Street Baptist Church in 1844.
  • The building was completely destroyed by fire on 31 Mar. 1852.
  • The burden of rebuilding their church forced the society to deed the church to thirty-seven men in 1855 who formed the Evangelical Baptist Benevolent and Missionary Society to hold this asset.
  • This church merged with the Union Baptist Church to form a new Union Temple Baptist Church on 5 Dec. 1863. This is today's Tremont Temple Baptist Church at 88 Tremont Street.
Records:
  • The records were held by the Baptist Missionary Union per the 1885 survey.
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72. Chardon Street Chapel [Christian], 1839.

Locations:
  • They worshipped at the Chardon Street Chapel by the present-day courthouse.
Notes:
  • The church hosted the "Chardon Street Convention" in Nov. 1840, Mar. 1841, and Nov. 1841.
  • It was described in 1847 as being "blended with Millerites, who worship in a hall on Milk Street, and the chapel belongs to the West Society of Universalists."
  • This church was not listed in the city directory for 1840 or 1845.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

73. German Lutheran Church or German Evangelical Lutheran Church, then Zion's Church, Evangelical Lutheran Zion Church, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1839-aft. 1946.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at a building on Suffolk Street [now Shawmut Avenue] near Dover Street [now East Berkeley Street] in 1839.
  • The congregation had a church on Shawmut Avenue at the corner of Waltham Street by 1855.
  • The congregation moved to 87 West Newton Street in the South End by 1900.
  • By 1905, the church was listed at 91 West Newton Street.
Notes:
  • Called Evangelical by 1850.
  • Called Zion's Church by 1875.
  • Called Evangelical Lutheran Zion Church by 1880.
  • Called Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1900.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

74. Bowdoin Square Baptist Church, 1840-1876.

Locations:
  • The church was built in Bowdoin Square at the corner on Chardon Street.
Records:

75. Sixth Universalist Church or East Boston Universalist Church, then Central Square Universalist Church, 1840-1948.

Locations:
  • They built their church on Webster Street at the corner of Orleans Street in East Boston in 1842.
  • The congregation was renting Sumner Hall in 1865.
  • They had moved to Central Square by 1870.
Notes:
  • The church changed its name to Central Square Universalist Church by 1875.
Records:
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76. German Evangelical Church or German Reformed Church, 1840-bef. 1880.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in a building at 8 Shawmut Street near Pleasant Street in Bay Village in 1840.
Notes:
  • Did this church merge with the Zion's Church (a Lutheran church at the corner of Shawmut Avenue and Waltham Street in the South End) to form the Evangelical Lutheran Zion Church at the same location by 1880?
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

77. Church of the Disciples [Unitarian], 1841-1942.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at the Masonic Temple in 1841.
  • Their chapel at Freeman Place was dedicated in 1848.
Notes:
  • The Indiana Street Church (1841) merged into this church in 1855.
  • This church merged with the Arlington Street Church in 1942.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
James Freeman Clarke (1841-1888) Charles Gordon Ames (1889-1912) Abraham Mitre Rihbany (1911-1938)

78. Garden Street Chapel and later Garden Street Church, 1841.

Locations:
  • On Garden Street on Beacon Hill.
Notes:
  • The church was created from part of the congregation from the First Free Church split off with their minister William R. Chapman because of their Orthodox views on perfection in 1841.
  • The Green Street Church (1823) congregation merged with this church in 1844.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
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79. Mount Vernon Church [Trinitarian], 1842-1970.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at the Masonic Temple from 1842 to 1843.
  • They built their church on Somerset Place [later Allston Street, but since the 1960s is a government building] on Beacon Hill in 1844.
  • At some later point, they built a church on the corner of Beacon Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Back Bay.
Notes:
  • This church was formed by a group interested in "fighting the indifference and Unitarianism."
  • The church merged with the Old South Church or Third Congregational Church in 1970.
  • Their old building was burned in the summer of 1977.
Records:

80. Meridian Street Methodist Episcopal Church (1842-1880) and later Meridian Bethel Mission (1880-1917), 1842-1917.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at the corner of Meridian and Paris Streets in East Boston.
  • They soon moved to Meridian and Decatur Streets in East Boston.
Notes:
  • This congregation merged with the Saratoga Street Methodist Church to form the Union Methodist Church in 1917.
Records:

81. Richmond Street Methodist Episcopal Church, 1842-1849.

Locations:
  • On Richmond Street in the North End.
Notes:
  • This congregation merged with the First Methodist Episcopal Church (1792) [then called the North Bennett Street Methodist Episcopal Church] in 1849.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown, but likely part of the First Methodist Episcopal Church (1792) descendancy.
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82. West Universalist Society, 1843-1847?.

Locations:
  • The congregation purchased the Chardon Street Chapel as their church at Chardon Street.
Notes:
  • Listed in the 1845 through 1847 city directories, but not after that.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
Ministers: [with years served]
Thomas C. Adam (1845-1846) D. H. Plumb (1847)

83. Church of the Messiah [Episcopal], 1843-1928.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in a building at the corner of Washington and Common Streets in the present-day Theater District.
Records:

84. The Third Christian Church, 1843-1843?.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in a chapel in the Coliseum on Tremont Street.
Notes:
  • Never listed in the city directories for 1843 through 1848.
  • Several members were received by the Maverick Church in East Boston in 1847 through 1849.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
Ministers: [with years served]
R. P. Russell (1843)
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85. East Boston Baptist Church or Central Square Baptist Church, 1844-1916.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in a hall in East Boston.
Records:

86. Leyden Church [Congregational], 1844-1846.

Locations:
  • The location of this church is unknown.

87. Church of St. Peter and St. Paul [Roman Catholic], 1844-1995.

Locations:
  • They built a church on Broadway in South Boston in 1847.
Notes:
  • The parish was suppressed on 1 Jan. 1996 and all current records sent to St. Vincent de Paul Parish in South Boston.
Records:
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88. Free Church, St. John's Church, and then St. Stephen's Church [Roman Catholic], 1844-1992.

Locations:
  • They built a church on Moon Street in the North End in 1844.
  • They bought a church at 401 Hanover Street in the North End from the New North Church (1714) in 1862.
Notes:
  • Called St. John's Church by 1847.
  • The church changed from St. John the Baptist to St. Stephen's Church in 1862.
  • This parish was suppressed and current records sent to St. Leonard of Port Maurice parish in the North End.
Records:
  • Baptisms (1842-1947), marriages (1842-1928), first communions (1875-1930), and confirmations (1875-1930) held by the Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston, Braintree, Mass. Records after 1930 are closed to the public.

89. Church of the Advent [Episcopal], 1844.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in a hall on Merrimack Street near North Station.
Records:

90. Messiah Church [Congregational], 1844-1846.

Locations:
  • The location of this church is unknown.
Notes:
  • This church was formed from the merger of the Garden Street Church (1841) and the Green Street Church (1823) in 1844.
Records:
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91. Church of the Pilgrim or Pilgrim Congregational Society [Trinitarian], 1844-1852.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at the Tremont Temple in downtown.
Notes:
  • This congregation was associated with the Messiah Church (1844) listed above.
  • This congregation was dissolved in 1852.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

92. Church of the Holy Trinity [Roman Catholic], 1844-2008.

Locations:
  • They built a church on Suffolk Street [now Shawmut Avenue] in the South End in 1844.
Notes:
  • This was a German congregation.
  • The church was suppressed on 30 June 2008.
  • The Archdiocese of Boston tried to sell the building in 2011, but after an uproar, it took the building off the market.
Records:
  • Baptisms (1836-1921), marriages (1836-1914), and deaths (1856-1877) held by the Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston, Braintree, Mass.
  • The remainder of records are with the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.

93. Church of St. Nicholas and later Catholic Church of the Most Holy Redeemer], 1844-present.

Locations:
  • They bought the Maverick Congregational Church at 72 Maverick Street in East Boston in 1844.
Notes:
  • Irish immigrants established this church in 1844 as the first Catholic church in East Boston.
  • The name was changed to Catholic Church of the Most Holy Redeemer in 1856.
Records:
  • Baptisms (1844-1926), marriages (1844-1939), and confirmations (1851-1956) held by the Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston, Braintree, Mass. All records after 1930 closed to the public.
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94. St. Stephen's Chapel of the Mission to the Poor, 1844-1875.

Locations:
  • The mission was on Purchase Street.
Records:

95. St. John's Episcopal Church, 1845-1979.

Locations:
  • The church was at 80 Lexington Street, East Boston.
Notes:
  • This church building is now [2011] the East Boston Headstart, see image.
Records:

96. Union Baptist Church, 1845-1863.

Locations:
  • On Merrimack street near North Station.
Notes:
  • This church merged with the Tremont Street Baptist Church (1839) to form the Union Temple Church in 1863 and now called Tremont Temple Baptist Church at 88 Tremont Street.
  • John Hayward, A Gazetteer of Massachusetts (Boston, 1847), called this Friend Street Baptist Church who worshipped at a building at the corner of Friend Street and Deacon Street [now near New Sudbury Street] in downtown. The minister, William Howe, matched this church in the city directories from 1846 through 1848.
Records:
  • The records were held by the Baptist Missionary Union per 1885 survey.
  • Perhaps the records still reside with the merged church.
Publications:
  • A history of the Union Baptist Church, Boston : the declaration of faith, the Church covenant, and list of members (Boston, 1857), 32 pp.
    No digital copy available.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
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97. Church of the Saviour [Unitarian], 1845-1863.

Locations:
  • They purchased the site of Judge Prescott's mansion and built their church on Bedford Street in downtown.
Notes:
  • The congregation merged into the Second Church (1650) in 1863.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown, but likely with the succession of merged churches.

98. Broadway Church [Unitarian], 1845-bef.1870.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped on Broadway in South Boston.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

99. Payson Church [Trinitarian], 1845-1860.

Locations:
  • They built a church on West Broadway at the corner of B Street in South Boston.
Notes:
  • This congregation merged into the E Street Congregational Church in 1860.
Records:
  • The original records of the church have not been located, but like were given to the merged church.
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100. Boston Baptist Bethel, 1845-1921.

Locations:
  • They built a church on Commercial Street at the corner of Lewis Street in the North End across from Lewis Wharf.
Notes:
  • This church merged with the City Mission Society (1898) to form the Boston Baptist Bethel City Mission Society in 1921 (with later merged with the Massachusetts Baptist Convention to form The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts in 1969).
  • Another entity called Boston Baptist Bethel was founded in 1970.
Records:

101. South Universalist Society, 1845-ca. 1855.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in a hall on the corner of Canton and Suffolk [now Shawmut Avenue] Streets in the South End.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
Ministers: [with years served]
E. W. Coffin (1845-1846) J. T. Sargent (1850) M. M. Preston (1852)
D. Mott (1848) D. D. Smith (1851) Daniel F. Goddard (1854)

102. Universalist Free Church, 1845-ca. 1848.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped in the Samaritan Hall at the corner of Purchase and Pearl Streets just east of South Station.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
Ministers: [with years served]
A. P. Cleverly (1847)
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103. Seamen's Chapel [Episcopal], 1845-bef. 1870.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped at the corner of Ann Street [now North Street] and Ferry Street [no longer extant - just southeast of the Sumner Tunnel entrance].
Records:

104. Suffolk Street Union Church and soon after the Shawmut Avenue Church [Trinitarian], 1845-1954.

Locations:
  • Their chapel was on Suffolk Street [now Shawmut Avenue] in the South End.
  • By 1865, the congregation moved to Tremont Street at the corner of [now West] Brookline Street in the South End.
Notes:
  • This church merged into the Park Street Church (1809) in 1954.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
  • Park Street Church records, 1804-1976, held by the Congregational Library, RG 1284, Boston, include a few records from the Shawmut Avenue Church, 1876-1954.
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105. Indiana Street Church [Unitarian], 1845-1856.

Locations:
  • On Indiana Place at the corner with Calflen Place [neither now extant].
Notes:
  • This congregation merged into the Church of the Disciples (1841) in 1855.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.

106. Twenty-Eighth Congregational Church, 1846-1888.

Locations:
  • They worshipped at The Melodeon on Washington Street near Boylston Street [where the Paramount Theater is today].
Notes:
  • The Theodore Parker Memorial Church (1873) was considered a continuation of this church.
  • This church was officially dissolved in 1888.
Records:
Ministers: [with years served]
Theodore Parker (1846-1860) Samuel Robert Calthorp (1867-1868) James Vila Balke (1868-1871)
David Atwood Wasson (1865-1867)
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107. First Presbyterian Church, 1846-1932.

Locations:
  • The congregation worshipped on Phillips Place across from King's Chapel, 1848.
  • This church was known to have moved many times.
Notes:
  • This church merged into the Central Congregational Church (1835) [commonly called the Central Church] and renamed the Church of the Covenant in 1931 after a fire in the Presbyterian Church.
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown, but likely with the merged church.
Ministers: [with years served]
Alex. Blake (1848)

108. First Independent Irish Protestant Church, 1846-1848.

Locations:
  • The congregation rented a hall on Chapman Place off School Street in 1847.
  • The congregation moved to Cross Street in 1848.
Notes:
  • The Christian Examiner reported in January 1847 on page 151, "In our last number we spoke of an attempt which had been made to gather a congregation of Irish Protestants in this city, under the care of Rev. Mr. Fisher, formerly pastor of a congregation at Markethill, in the North of Ireland. Although commenced only a few weeks since, the undertaking has been successful, and a society has been organized under the name of "The First Independent Irish Protestant Church and Society." They have removed from their former place of worship to a much more commodious and central hall in Chapman Place, School Street. -- We find in the "Harbinger" of December 19th the following notice: -- "We learn that Rev. William H. Channing has accepted the invitation to hold religious services in Boston this winter, with a view to the establishment of a church on the broad, humanitary principles of the Gospel, irrespective of creeds or dogmas."
Records:
  • The location of the original records is unknown.
Ministers: [with years served]
J. Fisher (1847-1848)
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[NOTE: This section will be worked on at a later point to fill in the above and hopefully to add the churches after 1846.]

Town records[edit | edit source]

The records for the town of Boston, 1630 to 1822, are mostly with the Boston Public Library, Rare Books and Manuscripts Department at the central library. Miscellaneous early records may be found in other local repositories as well. The call numbers are found within square brackets.

Quick Links to Boston town records
Papers (bound) Papers (loose) Records (bound)
Selectmen's Minutes Book of Possessions Assessor's Records
Overseers of the Poor Miscellaneous Records Record Commissioners
Published Miscellany

Boston Town Papers
[Ms.f.Bos.7]


These records are in seven bound volumes. They are not in the catalog, but there is a finding aid in the department.

  1. 1637-1712: Earliest town record, indentures, accounts, probate matters, taxes, notices, meeting minutes, petitions, bills, boundaries, land issues, etc.; over 350 individual documents.
  2. 1713-1733: Bills, selectmen actions, petitions, notices, accounts, meeting minutes, court documents, list of ship arrivals, warnings out, votes, indentures, receipts, land issues, etc.; over 350 individual documents.
  3. 1734-1740: Bills, petitions, votes, receipts, accounts, memorial, contracts for settlements for 1736 beyond the Connecticut River, meeting minutes, etc.; over 375 individual documents.
  4. 1741-1748: Accounts, bills, receipts, debts, petitions, reports, oaths, etc.; over 375 individual documents.
  5. 1749 [i.e. 1720]-1758: Bills, accounts, petitions, letters, votes, reports, receipts, leases, lists, court records, oaths, etc.; over 350 individual documents.
  6. 1759-1764: Petitions, accounts, leases, reports, bills, lists, accounts (esp. of 1760 fire damage), agreements, smallpox of 1764, etc.; about 350 individual documents.
  7. 1765-1776: Accounts, bills, petitions, reports, receipts, warnings out, lists, letters, etc.; over 375 individual documents.
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Boston Town Papers
[Ms.Bos.11]


Loose papers, 1686, 1709/10-1767, 1 box, chronologically arranged, bulk after 1733, miscellaneous town records coming before the selectmen - calendar of contents in Department.

These papers, folded and tied or sealed and kept in several large boxes, were discovered at the Old City Hall around the time of the opening of the New City Hall, ca. 1970. They had been stored in the basement undisturbed since the 1830s. They were brought to the Boston Public Library but forgotten again until late 1983, when they attracted a research librarian's attention and were assigned to the Rare Book Department.

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Boston Town Records
[Ms.f.Bos.1]


This collection has no finding aid. It was microfilmed in 1941 and previously published verbatim in the Boston Record Commissioners Series listed below. There are ten bound volumes:

  1. p. 58 [in pencil] This copy was made by Charles Shaw in 1814; p. 60-303 [noting original page numbers] Boston Town Records, 1634-1660, published as first part of BRC, 2: 1-159 [also 1855 copy on vellum with extensive index used for publication, Vol. 1B].
    Original volume 1 at the City Archives, Collection 1000.001.
  2. 1661-1728, 20 leaves in reverse direction, one undated 1600s, one 1652, rest 1717-1728 not in chronological order.
  3. 1728-1743.
  4. 1743-1767.
  5. 1767-1774.
  6. 1774-1781.
  7. 1781-1786.
  8. 1786-1796.
  9. 1796-1813.
  10. 1813-1822 [brief one-page notes of annual citizen's meetings from 1822-1847].

Bylaws and town orders, 1786, 1801, and 1818, along with a cattle book (1693), immigrants book (1763-1769), and port receipts (1773-1775) held by the City Archives, Collection 1000.001.

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Boston Selectmen's Minutes
[Ms.f.Bos.3]


This collection is in 23 bound volumes covering 1701 to 1822. It was published verbatim in the Boston Record Commissioners Series listed below.

Miscellaneous papers, 1634-1813, found at the City Archives, Collection 1000.001.

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Boston Book of Possessions
[Ms.f.Bos.2 and 2A]


The first is the original disbound volume that was encapsulated in tissue paper and rebound. The second is a copy of the first on vellum pages. This record of land holdings of the residents of Boston was undated but very likely compiled in the summer of 1652. Though not the official record of deeds, it establishes the ownership of land at this time when the original deeds only reach back to 1640 with some gaps. It was published verbatim in the Boston Record Commissioners Series, v. 2, listed below.

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Boston Tax and Assessor's Records
[no call number]

Online Records

The tax records before 1782 were destroyed by fire except for 1673-1698 [original at BPL, Ms.Bos.5 and Ms.q.Bos.5; published in BRC, v. 1]. This collection was microfilmed by the library in 2002. As part of the collection, there are "Directions for Assessing Taxes" - 1860, etc., printed for every ten years (but from what source?).

There are three books for each tax years:

  1. Taking books - arranged by ward, then entries by date of assessment containing the name of resident, street, occupation, real estate value, personal value, owner, to whom assessed.
  2. Transfer books - arranged by ward, then entries alphabetically by name of resident with same information as above.
  3. Tax books - arranged by ward, the entries alphabetically by resident recording assessed values and amount of state, poll, town, and county taxes paid.

To find a person in these records, you must know the ward of the town they lived in. If you do not know this information, you can use city directories (after 1789), census (after 1790), or Suffolk County deeds to help you identify the street. From there, you can use the ward boundaries with maps or guides to streets. All these resources are mentioned in this guide above. Realize a person can own land in every ward, so you might need to check each ward separately.

Codes Used in Boston Tax Records
1, 2, etc. Number of taxable polls Hs house
A alien in poll column Jy, Jyman journeyman
Ap, App apprentice(s) Sp shop
Co co-partner in business

The complete Taking books for 1780 were published in the Bostonian Society Publications, 9: 9, 137. Notable but exclusively missing records are:

1687 - Boston tax list, division 4, 1687, Mss C 1032, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, with digital image.
1780 - Assessments and accounts for certain wards [i.e. 4-8, 10, 12], Boston, Mass., 1780, Mss C 1024, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society.
1782-1783 - Taking books complete (3 vols.), tax books (2 vols. - tax abatement book, 1782, Ms.B.10.2 (10)), also "Selectman" valuation book 10, 1783 [Ms.Qto.6014].
1784 - Return made on form provided to the Assessors of the Town of Boston by John Kneeland, Jr., and John Ballard, 1784, held by The Bostonian Society, MS0119-DC1276; Property return lists of Samuel Blodgett and Robert Rogerson made to the Assessors of the Town of Boston, 1784, held by The Bostonian Society, MS0119-DC1277.
1785 - Ward 12 taking book, 1785, held by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Ms. S-265.
Taking Book Ward 5 and 6 at the City Archives, Collection 1000.001.
1786 - Taking books Wards 6 and 11 only.
Taking Books Wards 2, 4, 5, and 9 at the City Archives, Collection 1000.001.
1794 - Houses in Boston, 3 Sept. 1794, Mss C 1003, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
1795 - Taking books Wards 1-5 at the City Archives, Collection 1000.001.
1803 - Transfer books only.
1809 - missing Taking books for Wards 5-8.
1820 - Taking Book without the Neck at the City Archives, Collection 1000.001.
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Overseers of the Poor


  • Overseers of the Poor, Indentures, 1734-1805, 6v. [Ms.Bos.W1(5)]
    Together with photocopy of Lawrence W. Towner, "The Indentures of Boston's Poor Apprentices, 1734-1805" in the Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, v. 43, Transactions, 1956-1963, p. 417-468 (text part up to p. 434 is online).
    Microfilm of the original records at the City Archives, Collection 1000.001.
  • Overseers of the Poor, records, 1792-1853. [Ms.qBos.W1(2)]
  • Overseers of the Poor, vote book, 1788-1809, actions taken. [Ms.qBos.W1(1)]
  • Overseers of the Poor, vote book, no. 2, 1809-1820. [Ms.qAm.2322(1)]
  • Overseers of the Poor, vote book, no. 4, 1827-1838. [Ms.qAm.2322(2)]
  • Overseers of the Poor, register of gaol paupers, 1806-1816. [Ms.fAm.2323]
  • Overseers of the Poor, loose papers, 171?-1874. [Ms.Bos.W2]
  • Inspector of the Poor, report, 26 Sept. 1711, describing health, living conditions, and apparent character of about twenty Boston residents, held by Mss C 5145, R. Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
  • Boston Overseers of the Poor records, 1733-1925, held by the Massachusetts Historical Society, Ms. N-1879, also microfilmed as P-368 with an online guide to this edition.
    Eric Nellis and Anne Decker Cecere, eds., The Eighteenth-Century Records of the Boston Overseers of the Poor (Boston, 2007), being part of the Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, v. 69, 1041 pp.
    Note: This book transcribes the records of the overseer held by MHS only, so to be comprehensive, check the records at the Boston Public Library above.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.4 B4cs v. 69.
  • Records of the Overseers of the Poor, 1755-1756, held by The Bostonian Society, MS0119-DC1565.
  • Records of the Overseers of the Poor, December 9, 1777, held by The Bostonian Society, MS0119-DC1567
  • Records of the Overseers of the Poor, 1777-1779, held by The Bostonian Society, MS0119-DC1566.
  • Records of the Overseers of the Poor for the City of Boston, 1803-1877, held by The Bostonian Society, MS0070.


Published resources:

Online resources:

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Miscellaneous Boston town records at Boston Public Library and other repositories


Top of Page || Town Records


Boston Record Commissioners Series (Vols. 1-39)

A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, vol. 7.jpg
In 1875 the City of Boston appointed Record Commissioners to “directly assist in perfecting the record of the vital statistics of Boston.” Their duty was “to complete, so far as practicable, the record of births, marriages and deaths, in the town and city of Boston, prior to A.D. 1849, and to receive and collect all documents obtainable therefor [sic].”[2] As a result of the hard work and dedication of the Record Commissioners, thirty-nine volumes of records relating to the town and city of Boston were published between 1876 and 1909. Six of the volumes (for Boston, v. 9, 24, 28, 30; for Dorchester, v. 21, 36) pertain to vital records. The remaining thirty-three volumes are comprised of an assortment of record which includes town records, selectmen’s records, tax lists, censuses, directories, notarial records, warnings out, and miscellaneous papers. Also included are town records for Charlestown, Dorchester, and Roxbury. They are all verbatim transcriptions.

All thirty-nine volumes of the record commissioners’ series can be accessed for free online in various digital formats. They are available from Heritage Quest Online ($), and Internet Archive. The Boston Public Library has an online list with note on content and a link to an online version. In the FamilySearch Library, they are FS Catalog book 974.461 H2b with digital links. There are separate catalog records for individual volumes that were microfilmed.

Below is a description of each record volume, year published (with other editions), contents, and a link to a free digital version of the book. The title started out as [report number] Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston and by the sixth volume the title was simply A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston usually followed by the subject of that volume. This is the verbatim publication of the Boston town records to 1822.

Volume Year Contents Digital version
1
 1876, 1881 Statistics on churches and town records, tax list for 1674 (p. 21-59), 1676 (p. 60-67), 1681 [imperfect] (p. 68-77), 1685 (p. 78-82), 1686 (p. 82-84), 1687 (p. 84-134), 1688 (p. 134-145), 1689 (p. 146-147), 1691 (p. 147-157), and 1695 (p. 158-170). Internet Archive
2
 1877, 1881 Boston town records, 1634-1660 (p. 1-160), the "Book of Possessions" [earliest records of land before 1652], and created maps of Boston for 1630, 1635, 1640, and 1645 locating the residents [they were fold out maps in the first edition and differently arranged in the second edition]. There was a supplement to the second edition (1905) that had all the folded maps. Internet Archive
3
 1878 Charlestown "Book of Possessions" [i.e. the earliest land records] (bulk 1638-1649, but to 1717), Streets in 1670 (p. 186-188), proprietor's records (1681-1686, 1714-1715) (p. 189-219), survey of 1767 (p. 220-244), survey of 1771 (p. 245-247), survey of 1802 (p. 247-262). Internet Archive
4
 1880, 1883, 1896 Dorchester town records, 1632-ca. 1654. Internet Archive
5
 1880, 1884 This is a reprint of the "Gleaner" articles that were published in the Boston Daily Transcript for the second half of the year 1855 on various historical topics covering different parcels of land or estates, some churches, streets, legal issues, houses, monuments, and several families all written by Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch (1805-1861). Internet Archive
6
 1880, 1884 Roxbury land records, 1639-1717 (p. 1-70) and the Roxbury church records (p. 73-212). The latter includes the Rev. John Eliot's Record of the Church Members [it begins with how each of the earliest members arrived in Mass. Bay and continues with those admitted to 1775], baptisms (1641-1775), deaths/burials (1641-1688), Rev. John Eliot's records (1642-1677), and Rev. Samuel Danforth's records (1649-1674). Internet Archive
7
 1881 Boston town records, 11 Mar. 1660/1 to 10 Mar. 1700/1. Internet Archive
8
 1883 Boston town records, 11 Mar. 1700/1 to 30 Sept. 1728. Internet Archive
9
 1882 Boston births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths, 1630-1699. Internet Archive
10
 1886 Miscellaneous papers: (1) will of Robert Keayne, 1653 (p. 1-54); (2) admissions to the town of Boston, 1670-1700 (p. 55-82); (3) town deeds and agreements (p. 83-87); (4) males in Maj. Townsend's Camp, 1698 (p. 88-89); (5) abatements of taxes, 1700 (p. 90-104); (6) abatements of taxes, 1702 (p. 105-110); (7) Muddy River petition, 1704 (p. 111); (8) Poor fund, 1704 (p. 112); (9) Warnings out of town, 1707 (p. 113); (10) census of 1707 (p. 114-126); (11) agreement for a drain, 1685 (p. 127-128); (12) tax list, 1691-1693 (p. 129-135); (13) shop under the Town House, 1696 (p. 136-137); (14) abatements, 1701-2 (p. 138-150); (15) apprentice's indenture, 1701 (p. 151-152); (16) out-wharves, 1708 (p. 153-156); (17) Wood Lane, 1709 (p. 157); (18) fortifications on the Neck, 1711 (p. 158); (19) vessels entered in 1714 (p. 159-161); (20) index to first part (p. 161a-k-162); (21)Boston Directory for 1789 with map (p. 163-212); (22) Boston Directory for 1796 with map (p. 213-302). Internet Archive
11
 1884 Boston Selectmen's records, 29 Sept. 1701 to 17 Mar. 1715/6. Internet Archive
12
 1885 Boston town records, 10 Mar. 1728/9 to 27 Dec. 1742. Internet Archive
13
 1885 Boston Selectmen's records, 20 Mar. 1715/6 to 8 Sept. 1736. Internet Archive
14
 1885 Boston town records, 14 Mar. 1742/3 to 1 Nov. 1757. Internet Archive
15
 1886 Boston Selectmen's records, 15 Sept. 1736 to 29 Dec. 1742. Internet Archive
16
 1886 Boston town records, 13 Mar. 1758 to 13 Dec. 1769. Internet Archive
17
 1887 Boston Selectmen's records, 1 Jan. 1742/3 to 31 Dec. 1753. Internet Archive
18
 1887 Boston town records, 6 Mar. 1770 to 23 Jan. 1778. Internet Archive
19
 1887 Boston Selectmen's minutes, 28 Jan. 1754 to 2 Jan. 1764. Internet Archive
20
 1889 Boston Selectmen's minutes, 2 Jan. 1764 to 28 Dec. 1768. Internet Archive
21
 1891 Dorchester births, marriages, and deaths to the end of 1825. Internet Archive
22
 1890, 1910 Direct Tax of 1798 and U.S. Census for 1790 (with corrections fro the first town directory of 1789). Internet Archive
23
 1893 Boston Selectmen's minutes, 4 Jan. 1769 to 19 Apr. 1775 [record is suspended due to the British occupation]. Internet Archive
24
 1894 Boston births, 1700-1817 [Note: The record after 1745 is notably diminished]. Internet Archive
25
 1894 Boston Selectmen's minutes, 20 May 1776 to 27 Dec. 1786. Internet Archive
26
 1895 Boston town records, 5 Mar. 1778 to 24 Dec. 1783. Internet Archive
27
 1896 Boston Selectmen's minutes, 3 Jan. 1787 to 31 Dec. 1798. Internet Archive
28
 1898 Boston marriages, 1700 to 1751 [Note: This volume includes church marriages in the city clerk's archives that are not part of the town records plus a similar list from 28 June 1695 to 4 Mar. 1696/7]. Internet Archive
29
 1900 Miscellaneous papers: (1) Great Fire of 1760 (p. 1-132); (2) Lists of freemen, 1630-1691 [includes other Suffolk County towns] (p. 133-180); (3) Timber building book, 1707-1727 [i.e. 1729] (p. 181-225); (4) Inhabitants of Capt. Allen's Company, 1698 (p. 226-228); (5) Port arrivals, 1715-1716 (p. 229-242); (6) List of scholars, 1753 (p. 243); (7) Port arrivals, 1762-1775 (p. 243-332). Internet Archive
30
 1903 Boston marriages, 1752 to 1809 (includes intentions and church records) [with addenda sheet]. Internet Archive
31
 1903 Boston town records, 23 Feb. 1784 to 20 May 1796. Internet Archive
32
 1903 William Aspinwall notarial records, 1644 to 1651. Internet Archive
33
 1904 Boston Selectmen's minutes, 9 Jan. 1799 to 26 Dec. 1810. Internet Archive
34
 1905 Francis S. Drake, The Town of Roxbury its memorable persons and places its history and antiquities, with numerous illustrations of its old landmarks and notes personages (with map). Internet Archive
35
 1905 Boston town records, 4 July 1796 to 10 Nov. 1813. Internet Archive
36
 1905 Dorchester births, marriages, and deaths, 1826 to 1849 (including deaths from the First Burying Ground not in town records). Internet Archive
37
 1906 Boston town records, 14 Mar. 1814 to 1 Apr. 1822. Internet Archive
38
 1908 Boston Selectmen's minutes, 2 Jan. 1811 to 25 Aug. 1818. Internet Archive
39
 1909 Boston Selectmen's minutes, 1 Sept. 181 to 24 Apr. 1822. Internet Archive
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Miscellaneous Published Boston town and other early records


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City records[edit | edit source]

Boston was incorporated as a city on 4 Mar. 1822. The original Boston City Charter is held by the Massachusetts State Archives under the records for Statute 1822, Chapter 10, in flat case, on parchment (4pp.). A photocopy of this records is with the Boston Public Library Rare Books. [xxb6200A.135]

The records of each department is held in the department unless they transferred their older records to the City Archives. For a list of all stored records, see the City Archives guide. Below is a sampling of records held by the archives with occasional references to material held elsewhere as noted. For a listing of officials and employees, 1905-1937, see the online published reports.

Quick Links to Boston city records
Assessing Dept. City Clerk City Council
Election Dept. Fire Dept. Police Dept.
School Dept. Treasury Non-city rec.

Assessing Department
Collection 2100


Section 15 of Chapter 110 of the Acts of 1821, “An Act Establishing the City of Boston,” provided the City Council with the power to assess taxes. The same section provided for the election by the City Council, Mayor and Alderman, or by the citizens of Assessors and Assistant Assessors. Prior to 1854, the Assessors were located within the Treasury Department. Assessors, as well as, Assistant Assessors were chosen by concurrent vote of the City Council until 1885. In 1885, the power to appoint Assessors was transferred to the Mayor subject to confirmation by the Board of Aldermen. Chapter 93 of the Special Acts of 1918 reorganized the Assessing Department and created a Board of three Assessors appointed by the Mayor and subject to his removal.

The Assessing Department operates under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of Assessing and is divided into three programs: Tax Administration, Valuation, and Abatement. The Department determines the fair cash value and classification of all real and personal property located in the city. The department maintains official maps, property description data, ownership records and assessment, abatement and exemption records.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Real estate, personal estate, and poll tax records, 1822-1985, approx. 2950 lf. [2100.004]
    Records of taxes assessed for real estate, personal estate and poll taxes. Includes real estate valuations, 1822-1973; personal estate valuations, 1822-1985; and poll tax assessments, circa 1822-1963. The assessment of poll taxes was abolished in 1963.
    There are four types of records: Street Book, Transfer Book, Tax Book and Assessor’s List. The Street Book, Transfer Book and the Tax Book within each year are all arranged by ward number. Over time, the City of Boston grew from 12 wards to 26 wards. The Assessor’s List is arranged alphabetically by last name.
    We believe the Street Book was the book that the Assessor carried around with him as he went house to house to make the assessment. Often there are instructions for the Assessors included at the beginning of the books. The street books are arranged in the manner in which the Assessor went up and down the streets within the ward. In the later volumes, the street books are arranged by block number. Beginning in the mid-1860s, the street books are indexed at the front of each book by street name. The three other types of books all reference the page in the street book.
    For the period 1822-1868, in addition to the Street Book, there are two other books: Transfer Book and Tax Book. The Transfer Book includes similar information to the Street book except it is arranged alphabetically by last name. The Tax Book is also arranged alphabetically by last name but includes only the name person and the amount of the tax assessed. Both the Transfer Book and the Tax Book reference the corresponding page in the Street Book. Beginning in 1869, the information in the Transfer Book and the Tax Book were combined into one book called Tax Book. These Tax Books are arranged alphabetically by last name and include name, residence, occupation and amount taxed.
    The Assessor’s List begins in 1844. It is basically a master index arranged alphabetically by last name. From 1844-1858, the Assessor’s List references the ward number in which the individual was assessed. From 1859-1918, the Assessor’s List references the ward number and the page number in the Street Book.
    These records are now [2013] in the process of being digitized.
    Boston Tax Records, 1822-1918, browsable only (includes records up to roughly 1870 as of July 2014) - How to Use this Collection.
  • Abatements, 1819-1985, 363 volumes. [2100.005]
    Records of abatement of real estate, personal estate and poll taxes. The majority of the volumes are registers including names, assessed amounts, amount abated, and reason for the abatement. Also includes certificates of abatement, applications and petitions.
  • List of women returned by the Assessors, circa 1880-1890, 80 volumes. [2100.006]
    Lists of women's names and addresses arranged by ward and precinct.
  • Plans, circa 1918-1985, 36 flat file drawers. [2100.016]
    Large format plans arranged by ward number and block. Includes the block numbers, street names, plot dimensions, and building footprints. These plans were used for reference purposes only.
  • Surveyor plans, 1877, 3 record cartons. [2100.017]
    In November of 1876, the Board of Assessors requested an appropriation of $1500 for the purpose of causing the preparation of a set of reduced copies, on tracing cloth, of surveyors' plans of estates, to be used in street and office work in the Assessors' Department. Includes copies of surveyor plans, arranged by neighborhood, which were drawn circa 1856-1877.
  • Annual reports and publications, 1838-1989, 21 volumes. [2100.022]
    Includes copies of Annual Reports of the Assessing Department for the years 1894, 1921, 1923-1924, 1926-1937, 1941, 1943, 1945 and 1981; List of Persons, Copartnerships and Corporations Who were Taxed Twenty-five Dollars and Upwards in the City of Boston in 1838; List of Persons, Copartnerships and Corporations Who were Taxed Twenty-five Dollars and Upwards in the City of Boston in 1842; Boston's Tax Rate for 1926; Rules of Procedure in the Abatement of Taxes, 1940; User's Manual for the Equalization of Boston Assessments, 1979; Annual Report of the Tax-Exempt Property Steering Committee, 1988-1989. Annual reports can also be found in the City Documents series.
    For published tax lists, 1826 to 1865, see Boston Public Library Government Documents online list.
  • The real estate valuation lists from 1869 to 1897 in 958 vols. held by Boston Public Library Rare Books, [9317.446a8]

Online resources:

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City Clerk
Collection 0300


The first mention of a Town Recorder is the following action of the Selectmen, July 5, 1641: “Our brother John Oliver (a selectman) is chosen Treasurer for the Towne, and to keep the Towne’s booke.” From 1693 to 1822, the custodian of the Town records was called the Town Clerk. Section 10 of Chapter 110 of the Acts of 1821 stated that the City Clerk shall have all the powers, and perform all the duties belonging to the Town Clerk of the Town of Boston.

As provided by the City Charter, the City Clerk of Boston is elected by the City Council for a term of three years. The Office of the Clerk, under the direction of the City Clerk, accepts, files, records, and maintains all municipal records. The City Clerk publishes the agenda for all City Council meetings, records all Council and related Mayor actions, and edits and compiles the minutes of Council meetings. The Department also maintains the City Council document system database and publishes, on a yearly basis, all ordinances and amended codes. The City Clerk is also responsible for overseeing the work of the Archives Commission.

Services to the public include the sale of various licenses and permits, notarizing and attesting to documents and filing, recording and copying papers in the custody of the Clerk. Services to City government consist of providing informational resources and technical assistance, administration of the state's open meeting law, administration of oaths of office, attestation of various legal papers and custody of records. The Archives Commission oversees the protection of City records, files and other items of historic interest.

The city clerk has two divisions under the department:

  • Archives Division.
    The City Archives, administered by the Archives and Records Management division of the City Clerk's Office, is charged with a special role in protecting and managing the recorded information of the City of Boston. Established by the Statutes of the Commonwealth, Chapter 68, Acts of 1988, the mission of the City Archives is to protect and preserve the permanent official public records of Boston municipal government including those of "any city department, agency, board, office, commission or public corporation" since its founding in 1630; to document, arrange and provide day to day access to these archives; and to assist city departments with cost effective records management practices.
  • Registry Division.
    The City Registrar keeps the records of births, deaths and marriages, issues certificates of the same and marriage licenses, receives and records affidavits of, additions to, and amendments and corrections of said records, and forwards copies of all records to the office of the Department of Public Health and to outside cities and towns when nonresidents are involved. By Sections 5-8 of Chapter 2 of the Ordinances of 1954, the Registry Department became a division under the Health Department. By the Section 7 of Chapter 656 of the Acts of 1965, the Registry Division was transferred to the Office of the City Clerk.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Census records, 1820-1855, 3 record cartons. [0300.010]
    Census return books kept in the custody of the City Clerk's Office. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts required censuses in order to apportion representatives to the state government through the first half of the 19th century including 1800, 1810, 1820, 1825, 1835, 1837, 1840, 1845, 1850, and 1855. After 1855, the National census was used to determine the population of the City of Boston. This collection includes census books recording the returns for the censuses of 1820, 1835, 1837, 1840, 1850, and 1855. The 1820 census records include volumes for wards 5, 9, 11, and 12 only. There is an online guide to city censuses.
  • Personal Records of Members of the City Council, 1861-1890, complied circa 1891-1894, 3 document cases. [0300.013]
    Biographical questionnaires sent out between 1891-1894 by the Records Commissioner requesting information on name, place and date of birth, family, education, business, official positions, and military service of former City Council members. Includes forms for City Council members who served during the years 1861-1890. In addition to the printed forms, there are also news clippings, business letterhead, and transcribed obituaries for some of the members. There is an online guide.
  • Enrolled Militia, 1844-1867, with gaps 16 volumes. [0300.016]
    Lists of enrolled militia for the years 1844-1862, 1864 and 1867.
  • Record of Army and Navy enlistments from Boston, 1861-1865, 6 volumes and 1 flat box. [0300.017]
    Army and Navy enlistments on Boston's quota, 1861-1865 and re-enlistments and transfers of soldiers, seamen and officers, 1861-1865.
  • Religious Societies filings, 1841-1916, 2 volumes. [0301.010]
    Articles of incorporation of Religious Societies filed with the City Clerk. Filing with the City Clerk was discontinued by Section 15 of Chapter 291 of the Acts of 1918.
  • Married Women doing Business certificates, 1862-1974, 32 volumes, 2 record cartons and 10 card file boxes. [0301.011]
    According to Section 11 of Chapter 209 of the Massachusetts General Laws, married women doing business on their own account were required to record in the City Clerk's Office a certificate stating her name and name of husband, nature of business and location, and street and number. If she failed to record, the husband could do so. Penalty for failure to record allowed property to be attached as though husbands. MGL c. 209, S. 11 was repealed 1974, 147, Sec. 4. Includes 28 volumes of recordings, 4 index volumes, card index and applications. There is an online guide to certificates.
  • Notices of filing of application to become a citizen, 1885-1900, 0.25 document case and 1 volume. [0301.035]
    Notices filed with the City Clerk of applications to become a citizen by Section 3 of Chapter 345 of the Acts of 1885. Includes one volume recording filings, 1885-1895 and filings, 1885-1900.
  • Annual reports and publications, 1868-1965, 56 volumes. [0330.003]
    Includes copies of Annual Reports for the years 1868, 1870-1871, 1873-1883, 1885, 1892-1898, 1900-1905, 1907-1910; indexes to Births in the City of Boston for the years 1923, 1928, 1931, 1934, 1945-1947, 1949-1951, 1953-1959, 1961-1967; index to marriage intentions and marriages recorded in 1894; "Bills of Mortality 1810-1849; "List of Freemen 1630-1678"; "A Series of Plans Showing the Existing Ways and Owners of Property 1630, 1635, 1640, 1645" published in 1909; and "Maps of the Street Lines of Boston Made for the Selectmen in 1819 and 1820" published in 1894. Annual reports can also be found in the City Documents series.

Online resources:

Top of Page || City Records


City Council
Collection 0100


The City Charter (Chapter 121 of the Acts of 1821) established the form of government as a Mayor; a Board of Aldermen, consisting of eight elected at large; and a Common Council, of forty-eight elected by wards; to be called when conjoined, "the City Council.” The Mayor and Aldermen were vested with the administration of the police, and executive power of the corporation generally, with specific enumerated powers. All other powers belonging to the corporation were vested in the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council exercised by concurrent vote.

Powers related to the administration of the Police were transferred to the Board of Police Commissioners by Chapter 244 of the Acts of 1878. Chapter 266 of the Acts of 1885, an act to amend the charter of the City of Boston, transferred to the Mayor the power to appoint, subject to the approval of the Board of Aldermen, all officers and boards elected by the City Council or Board of Aldermen, and all offices that may be established in the future. All executive powers vested in the Board of Aldermen were transferred to the Mayor to be exercised through the several officers and boards of the City in their respective departments, under the general supervision and control of the Mayor.

Chapter 486 of the Acts of 1909 abolished the City Council and both branches thereof. The act established a City Council consisting of nine members elected at large. The City Council retained the power to approve ordinances and loan orders presented by the Mayor and the budget. All heads of departments and municipal boards, excluding the school committee and those appointed by law by the governor, would be appointed by the mayor without confirmation by the City Council.

Chapter 479 of the Acts of 1924 provided for the election of 22 City Councilors, one from each ward beginning with the biennial election in 1925. Chapter 356 of the Acts of 1951 provided for the election of 9 City Councilors at large.

Chapter 190 of the Acts of 1982 (Tregor Bill) made major changes to the financial operations of the City and to the budgetary powers of the Mayor and City Council. Chapter 605 of the Acts of 1982 provided for a City Council of thirteen members, one each from nine districts and three at large, effective with the preliminary election in September of 1983.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Proceedings, 1822-2002, 478 volumes, 908 document cases and 283 record cartons. [0100.001]
    Proceedings of the Boston City Council from 1822-2002. Includes Board of Aldermen minutes and docket documents, 1822-1909; Common Council minutes and docket documents, 1822-1909; City Council minutes, 1910-1970; City Council published minutes, 1868-2002; and City Council docket documents, 1910-2001. Docket documents consist of all orders, petitions, reports, filings, etc. acted upon by the City Council. There is an online guide of proceedings.
  • Boston City Documents, 1784-1970, 342 volumes. [0100.003]
    Published series of documents ordered to be printed by the City Council. Includes departmental annual reports, committee reports, orders, ordinances, annual addresses, and other reports.
  • United States Census, 1830, 1 volume. [0100.012]
    United States Census of Boston presented to the City Council to be kept for public inspection in the City Council room.
  • Committee on Alien Passengers records, 1847-1848, 3 document cases. [0140.011]
    Records of the Joint Committee on Alien Passengers, 1847-1848. Includes minutes, petitions and memorials, Inspector of Alien Passengers correspondence and reports, and Deer Island Hospital administrative records. There is an online guide to records.
Top of Page || City Records


Election Department
Collection 4700


The Board of Registrars of Voters was appointed in May of 1874 and was succeeded July 1, 1895 by the Board of Election Commissioners. This department exercises all the powers and duties formerly conferred upon the Board of Registrars of Voters (including the preparation of the jury list), except the power and duty of giving notice of elections and fixing the days and hours for holding the same. The Board also exercises all the powers and duties formerly conferred upon the City Clerk and other officers by chapter 504 of the Acts of 1894. One Election Commissioner is appointed by the Mayor each year, term beginning on the 1st of April. The two leading political parties must be equally represented on the Board and the Chairman is designated annually by the Mayor.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Voter registrations, circa 1857-1940 with gaps, 382 volumes. [4700.001]
    Includes indexes to naturalized male voters from 1857-1895; naturalized male voter registrations from 1864-1895; index to naturalized and native male voters, 1896-1900; naturalized and native male voter registrations from 1896-1897; women voter registers, circa 1920-1940. The women voter registers were used to register women in 1920. After 1920, men are also included in these registers.
  • Women voter registrations, 1884-1920, 122 volumes. [4700.002]
    In Massachusetts, women were allowed to vote in school board elections beginning in 1879. This law (Chapter 223, Acts of 1879) required that they follow the same provisions that were set for men; these included, paying a poll tax, the capabilities to read and write in the English language, and were at least 21 years of age. Includes voter registrations of naturalized and native women for school board elections from 1884-1920. Only the Naturalized Women Voter Registers have an index, all others must be searched by women’s last name and/or by date. Complete entries include a woman’s age, birthplace, citizenship status, and address.
  • Ward and precinct maps, 1878-1925, 8 volumes. [4700.011]
    Map books showing ward and precinct boundaries for the years 1878, 1886, 1889, 1890, 1895, 1916, 1921 and 1925 printed by the Election Department.
  • Annual Listing of Residents, 1931-1978, with gaps, 34 volumes and 1 pamphlet box. [4720.001]
    Annual Listing of Residents age 20 and over. Includes listings for 1931, ward 1; 1938, wards 1-2, 9-13, 16-17, 19-21; 1952, wards 9, 11-12; 1959, ward 18; 1961, ward 15; 1965, wards 17-18, 20, 22; 1976, wards 4, 16-22; and 1978, wards 15-17, 20.

Online resources:

Top of Page || City Records


Fire Department
Collection 0500


The origins of the Boston Fire Department date back to 1678 with the establishment of the first engine company and the receipt of the first hand fire engine in North America. The Board of Fire Wards was established on February 1, 1711. Prominent men were chosen as Fire Wards and were responsible for the operation and maintenance of the equipment assigned to their ward. Chapter 52 of the Acts of 1825, "An Act Establishing a Fire Department in the City of Boston and an Ordinance for the preventing and extinguishing of fires and establishing a fire department" went into full operation in April of 1826. With this legislation, the Board of Fire Wards was dissolved. All records and property belonging to the city were transferred to the Chief Engineer in May of 1826.

By the reorganization in 1837, the Fire Department changed from a partially volunteer to a paid fire department. On June 16, 1851, the City Council passed an order to erect a system of telegraphic fire alarms and the first regular alarm on the new system was received on April 29, 1852. On January 1, 1859, two new steam engines were put in service replacing two hand engines. On October 24, 1873, the City Council passed an ordinance creating a Board of Fire Commissioners to oversee the department. Section 9 of Chapter 449 of the Acts of 1895, an act to amend the City Charter, abolished the Board of Fire Commissioners and placed the Department under the charge of one Fire Commissioner. The Chief Engineer serves as the Executive Officer of the Commissioner and directs the work of the members of the Department.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Fire records, 1880-1967, 54 oversized volumes. [0500.007]
    Logs of fires from 1880-1967. Includes location, owners, cause, amount of damages, companies responding, remarks etc. There is an online guide to fire records.
  • Lists of call men, 1837-1858, 2 volumes. [0500.008]
    Registers recording names of firemen, engine company, date admitted and discharged. Beginning in 1837, compensation was given to firemen who served for six consecutive months with the same engine company.

Online resources:

Other sources:

Top of Page || City Records


Police Department
Collection 0600


Chapter 5 of the Acts of 1761-1762 established a watch for the safety and better securing the good order of the Town of Boston. Chapter 110 of the Acts of 1821 vested in the Mayor and Aldermen the administration of the police formerly exercised by the Selectmen. Chapter 123 of the Acts of 1838 granted the Mayor and Aldermen the power to appoint police officers with all or any of the powers of the constables except the power of serving and executing any civil process.

Chapter 354 of the Acts of 1853 authorized and empowered the City Council to consolidate the Watch and Police Departments into one department. This act was accepted by the City Council on June 2, 1853. A new organization of the Police Department under the authority of the Mayor and Board of Aldermen took effect on May 26, 1854. The two departments were formally united by Ordinance passed May 19, 1855.

Chapter 244 of the Acts of 1878 established a Board of Police Commissioners appointed by the Mayor. Chapter 323 of the Acts of 1885 established a Board of Police consisting of three citizens appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Governor's Council.

Chapter 291 of the Acts of 1906 placed the department in charge of a single head appointed by the Governor to be known as the Police Commissioner. Chapter 322 of the Acts of 1962 transferred the power to appoint the Police Commissioner back to the Mayor.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Annual reports and publications, 1870-2007, 78 volumes. [0600.006]
    Includes annual reports of the Police Commissioner for 1871, 1910, 1927, 1933-1934, 1936, 1939, 1945, 1950, 1955, 1958-1960, 1962-1970, 1974-1976, 1999 and 2007; annual reports of the Boston Police Relief Association for 1911, 1913-1915, 1918-1920, 1922-1925, and 1927-1928; street directory, 1938 and circa 1970s-1980s; and miscellaneous reports and surveys.

Online resources:

Other sources:

  • Boston Police Records Manager & Archivist
    1555 Hyde Park Avenue
    Hyde Park MA 02136-2486
    Telephone: 617-343-5166
    Email: SullivanMar.bpd@cityofboston.gov
    No website
    Holdings include personnel information on individuals who were employed as Boston police officers (bulk dates 1878-1961). The information in any given file might include: date of appointment; transfers; promotions; rewards, awards, and/or medals received; date of retirement of death, etc.
  • Read a brief History of the Boston Police Department online.
  • George H. McCaffrey, "The Boston Police Department" in the Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, 2 [1912]: 672-690.
Top of Page || City Records


School Department
Collection 0400

In 1789, the General Court of the Colony granted authority to “trust to appoint School Committees for the control of the Schools.” In accordance with the provisions of this act, the first School Committee for Boston was chosen October 20, 1789, “to exercise all the Powers relating to the Schools and School Masters, which the Selectmen or such Committees are authorized by the Laws of this Commonwealth on the Votes of this Town to exercise.” Under the reorganized plan of 1789, the public schools of Boston were administered by a committee consisting of twenty-one members, nine selectmen and one member from each of the twelve wards. For administrative purposes, the Board of twenty-one members was divided into various sub-committees. Sub-committees included a visiting committee, a committee to fill vacancies in the teaching staff and an examining committee.

Prior to 1818, the public schools admitted only children who had already received some rudimentary instruction. During that year, after considerable agitation on the part of the citizens of the town, primary schools were established. The citizens created in town meeting a special committee distinct and separate from the regular School Committee to safeguard the interests of the primary schools. This committee had a membership ranging from 36 at one time to 196 at another time. The Primary School Committee continued to have exclusive control of the primary schools until 1855, when these schools were placed under the jurisdiction of the general committee.

By terms of the Charter, authorization was granted the School Committee to have the general care and superintendence of the public schools. The number of members and terms of the School Committee fluctuated over the years through several charter revisions.

The office of the Superintendent of Schools was created in 1851. The appointment of teachers, however, still remained the prerogative of the School Committee. In 1876, the rules and regulations were revised and considerable nominal power was granted to the Superintendent and Supervisors, but the appointment of teachers was retained by the district subcommittees. The newly established Board of Supervisors became a board for the examination and certification of teachers. In 1884, the Superintendent was given additional powers. He was to be held responsible to the School Board as the executive in the department of instruction over all supervisors, principals, and other instructors.

With the reorganization of the School Committee in 1906, all sub-committees were discontinued. One of the most important features of the revised rules and regulations of 1906 was the conferring of direct authority and responsibility upon the official staff of the Committee. The Superintendent was designated as the executive officer of the School Committee in all matters relating to instruction and discipline in the public schools; and was given the power, subject to the approval of the School Committee, to appoint, reappoint, transfer and remove all directors, principals and teachers.

Chapter 108 of the Acts of 1991 replaced the elected School Committee with a board of seven members serving four-year terms, appointed by the Mayor from nominees.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Student records, circa 1847-1990, 317 volumes, 134 record cartons, 156 card file boxes, 124 document cases, 38 file cabinets and 7 microfilm drawers. [0420.001]
    Student transcripts, office record cards and attendance records of primarily closed Boston Public Schools. Includes records of the following high schools and programs: Boston Technical High School/Mechanic Arts High School, pre-1952 only; Boston Trade School for Boys, pre 1929 only; Brandeis Vocational High School; Charlestown High School, pre-1917 only; High School of Commerce; Dorchester High School, pre-1946 only; Evening High and Trade Schools, pre-1978 only; Girls' High School; Girls' Trade High School; High School of Practical Arts; (Old) Roxbury High School; (New) Roxbury High School; Roxbury Memorial High Schools for Boys and Girls; South End Vocational School; Vocational High and Opportunity School; and Vocational Technical Institute. Also includes various elementary and middle schools.
  • School Committee, minutes, 1792-1905, 44v., index v. 14a, held by the Boston Public Library Rare Books. [Ms.f.Bos.Sc.1]
Top of Page || City Records


Treasury Department
Collection 2400


The Collector-Treasurer has the care and custody of the current funds of the City, of all monies, properties and securities placed in his charge by any statute or ordinance, or by any gift, devise, bequest or deposit and pays all bills and demands against the City.

The earlier treasurers were chosen by the Selectmen; from 1660-1690 the choice was made sometimes by the Selectmen, sometimes by the town meeting; afterwards by the latter only. Chapter 7 of the Acts of 1802 established the Treasurer of the Town of Boston as the Collector of taxes. Chapter 176 of the Acts of 1875 established a separate office of Collector. Said Collector received the powers previously possessed by the Treasurer as collector of taxes, and would also collect and receive all assessments, betterments, rates, dues and money payable on any account to the City of Boston or the County of Suffolk. The Collector was required to pay over to the Treasurer within twenty-four hours any and all money received by him.

Section 65 of Chapter 2 of the Ordinances of 1954 reorganized the Treasury Department by abolishing the office of City Treasurer and substituting therefore the office of Collector-Treasurer.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Record of Emigrants landing, 1837-1847, 3 volumes. [2400.005]
    Includes lists of vessels arriving and names of passengers.
Top of Page || City Records


Non-City Records


Collections donated to the City Archives or used for reference purposes. Includes records not created or maintained by city departments.

A partial list of the holdings:

  • Atlases, 1873-1938, 44 volumes. [9800.003]
Top of Page || City Records


Census[edit | edit source]

Online Records

A quick reference for early populations of Boston can be found in A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, vol. 22, iv-v. A detailed study was published by Lemuel Shattuck, Report to the Committee of the City Council Appointed to Obtain the Census of Boston for the Year 1845 (Boston, 1846). A city census was taken in 1820, 1835, 1837, 1840, 1850, and 1855. Most of this data survives today.

Below is a list of the census records for Boston:

Top of Page


Tax Records[edit | edit source]

Boston Massachusetts Genealogy and History Resources[edit | edit source]

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

Online Resources[edit | edit source]


This is a list derived from the microtext holdings of the Boston Public Library and augmented with other sources. For more detailed information on the earliest newspapers, see Check-List of Boston Newspapers 1704-1780 by Mary Farwell Ayer With Bibliographical Notes by Albert Matthews (Cambridge, Mass., 1907) digitally on Internet Archive or FS Catalog book 974.4 B4cs v. 9 or film 844522 Item 1 and the common offprint without the checklist Albert Matthews, Bibliographical Notes on Boston Newspapers 1704-1780 (Cambridge, Mass., 1907) digitally on Google Books. The reprint book on WorldCat (Other Libraries); not at FS Library.

It is common for a newspaper title to change over time and also to merge and separate from other newspapers. Be aware of that situation when using this chronological list. Every effort has been made to put obvious continued newspapers together. Newspaper titles in bold italic were published for over thirty (30) years. NEWSPAPER TITLES IN BOLD ITALIC CAPS were published for over seventy-five (75) years. If you want to find ANY title or foreign-language paper, use the search feature of our browser.

Boston Public Library developed a handy Boston Newspaper Chronology (a pdf file) for major newspapers from 1820 to present.

Useful guides and indexes to early Boston newspapers:

Newspapers First Published in: Top of Newspapers | 1690-1800 | 1801-1825 | 1826-1840 | 1841-1855


Key to Notes / Online Column
Code Source
Early Am. Ser. 1-9 Early American Newspapers, Series 1-9 (number of issues) available through many libraries around the country ($).
Gen. Bank Genealogy Bank available through many libraries around the country and personal subscriptions ($).

1690 - 1800
Dates Newspaper Title Notes / Online
25 Sept. 1690 Public Occurrences Early Am. Ser. 1 (1); Gen. Bank
17 Apr. 1704 - 29 Feb. 1776 Boston News Letter weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (3500); Gen. Bank
Andrew Pollock, Advertisement Index to the Boston Newsletter and Massachusetts Gazette (Duxbury, Mass., 1987), 674 pp. in 2 vols.; WorldCat (Other Libraries) or New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston; not at FS Library.
21 Dec. 1719 - 27 Feb. 1831 BOSTON COMMERCIAL GAZETTE weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1, 1719-1798 (3717) and 1821-1826 (531); Gen. Bank, 1719-1798
7 Aug. 1721 - 25 June 1726 New-England Courant weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (243); Gen. Bank
20 Mar. 1727 - 13 Oct. 1741 New-England Weekly Journal weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (760); Gen. Bank
27 Sept. 1731 - 11 Aug. 1735 Weekly Rehearsal weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (199); Gen. Bank
18 Aug. 1735 - 24 Apr. 1775 Boston Evening Post Early Am. Ser. 1 (2066); Gen. Bank
21 Apr. 1735 - 10 Apr. 1775 Boston Post-Boy Early Am. Ser. 1 (1650); Gen. Bank
4 Jan. 1748 - 5 Dec. 1749 Independent Advertiser NO digital version
22 Oct. 1767 - 21 June 1770 Boston Chronicle Early Am. Ser. 1 (204); Gen. Bank
17 July 1770 - 6 Apr. 1775 Massachusetts Spy Early Am. Ser. 1 (283); Gen. Bank
23 Nov. 1771 - 21 May 1772 Censor and Evening Star Early Am. Ser. 1 (24); Gen. Bank
25 Apr. 1776 - 12 Dec. 1782 New England Chronicle weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1, 1776 (21); Gen. Bank
30 May 1776 - 21 June 1787 Continental Journal weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (567); Gen. Bank
19 Sept. 1776 - 29 May 1817
4 June 1817 - 23 May 1840 		Independent Chronicle
Independent Chronicle & Boston Patriot 		semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (2951); Gen. Bank
Early Am. Ser. 1, 1817-1823 (914); Gen. Bank, 1817-1820
15 June 1778 - 16 Oct. 1786 Independent Ledger Early Am. Ser. 1 (435); Gen. Bank
18 Oct. 1781 - 22 Nov. 1785 Salem Gazette NO digital version
20 Oct. 1781 - 10 Jan. 1784 Boston Evening Post weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (117); Gen. Bank
19 Jan. 1784 - 30 June 1788 American Herald Early Am. Ser. 1 (249); Gen. Bank
24 Mar. 1784 - 12 June 1790

16 June 1790 - 29 Apr. 1840 		Massachusetts Centinel

Columbian Centinel 		semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1, 1784-1788 (410); Gen. Bank
Early Am. Ser. 2, 1788-1790 (244)
Early Am. Ser. 1, 1790-1823 (3411), Ser. 2, 1790-1825 (270); Gen. Bank, 1790-1825
Index of Marriages in Massachusetts Centinel and Columbian Centinel, 1784 to 1840 (Boston, 1961), 4 vols.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.4 V22i v. # or fiche 6051397-6051400.
Index of Obituaries in Massachusetts Centinel and Columbian Centinel, 1784-1840 (Boston, 1961), 5 vols.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.4 V42i or fiche 6051402-6051406.
30 Dec. 1784 - 4 Jan. 1787 Exchange Advertiser weekly; NO digital version
28 Nov. 1785 - 11 Nov. 1788 Massachusetts Gazette Early Am. Ser. 1 (271); Gen. Bank
15 Sept. 1788 - 19 July 1791 Herald of Freedom semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (298); Gen. Bank
23 Apr. 1789 - 15 Oct. 1789 Courier de Boston French weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (26); Gen. Bank; Internet Archive
24 July 1790
30 Aug. 1790 - 13 Dec. 1790 		Saturday Evening Herald
American Herald and the Washington Gazette 		weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (10); Gen. Bank
22 July 1791 - 28 June 1793 Argus semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (160); Gen. Bank
6 Jan. 1792 - 25 Dec. 1794 American Apollo Early Am. Ser. 1 (119); Gen. Bank
1 Jan. 1793 - 8 Mar. 1803
1 Jan. 1801 - 8 Mar. 1803 		Massachusetts Mercury
Mercury and New-England Palladium 		semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (1089); Gen. Bank
semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1; Gen. Bank
28 July 1794 - 15 Oct. 1808 Times or the Evening Entertainer tri-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (62); Gen. Bank
20 Oct. 1794 - 8 Dec. 1796 Federal Orrery semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (213)
1 July 1795 - 5 Mar. 1797 Courier Early Am. Ser. 1 (53); Gen. Bank, 1795
7 Sept. 1795 - 4 June 1798 Boston Price Current weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (196); Gen. Bank
6 Oct. 1796 - 2 Feb. 1797 Polar Star Early Am. Ser. 1 (102); Gen. Bank
1 Jan. 1798 - 26 Mar. 1798 Federal Gazette semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (61); Gen. Bank
7 June 1798 - 6 Oct. 1800 Russell's Gazette semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (244); Gen. Bank
2 Oct. 1799 - 22 May 1802 Constitutional Telegraph semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (276); Gen. Bank
Newspapers First Published in: Top of Newspapers | 1690-1800 | 1801-1825 | 1826-1840 | 1841-1855

Top of Page

1801 - 1825
Dates Newspaper Title Notes / Online
26 May 1802 - 30 Mar. 1803
2 Apr. 1803 - 31 Dec. 1803 		Republican Gazetteer
Gazetteer 		semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (89); Gen. Bank
semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (79); Gen. Bank
11 Mar. 1803 - 16 May 1840 New-England Palladium semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (1856), 1803-1820; Gen. Bank, 1803-1820; see Mercury (1793)
4 Jan. 1804 - 2 June 1809 Democrat Early Am. Ser. 1 (563); Gen. Bank
25 Jan. 1804 - 29 July 1826 Repertory Early Am. Ser. 1 (3096), 1804-1820; Gen. Bank
13 June 1805 - 27 Oct. 1864
25 Mar. 1808 - 31 Dec. 1808 		Boston Courier
Boston Daily Courier 		weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (198), 1805-4 May 1809; Gen. Bank
daily; NO digital version
12 Dec. 1807 - 15 Oct. 1808 Times Saturday evening weekly; with Agricultural Intelligencer; NO digital version
22 Oct. 1808 - 21 July 1810 Boston Mirror Early Am. Ser. 1 (92); Gen. Bank
7 Nov. 1808 - 19 May 1809 Columbian Detector Early Am. Ser. 1 (44); Gen. Bank
3 Mar. 1809 - 31 May 1817
2 June 1817 - 31 Dec. 1831
4 June 1817 - 31 Dec. 1825 		Boston Patriot
Boston Patriot & Daily Chronicle 		semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (860); Includes: Boston Patriot & Daily Chronicle, Boston Patriot & Daily Mercantile Advertiser, Boston Patriot and Daily Chronicle, Boston Patriot and Morning Advertiser, Independent Chronicle & Boston Patriot
semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (1110)
Early Am. Ser. 1 (914); Gen. Bank, 1809-1817, 1817-1820
Gen. Bank, 1817-1825
5 June 1809 - 29 July 1809
3 Mar. 1813 - 14 Feb. 1929 		Daily Advertiser
BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER 		daily; Early Am. Ser. 1 (48); Gen. Bank
morning daily; Early Am. Ser. 1 (2736), 1813-1821; Early Am. Ser. 2 (620), 1822-1823; Early Am. Ser. 4 (12781), 1860-1900; Gen. Bank, 1813-1900
Included in the Zimmer Index, 1878-1937
20 Feb. 1810 - 15 May 1810 Fredonian Early Am. Ser. 1 (13); Gen. Bank
10 Aug. 1811 - 28 Dec. 1811 Scourge Early Am. Ser. 1 (16); Gen. Bank
25 Oct. 1811 - 26 Dec. 1867 Boston Weekly Advertiser weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (484), 1811-1820;
25 Oct. 1811 - 26 May 1831 Weekly Messenger Early Am. Ser. 5 (578), 15 June 1820-1831; Gen. Bank
3 Jan. 1812 - 20 Jan. 1820 Yankee weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (422); Gen. Bank
16 Jan. 1812 - 9 May 1812 Satirist Early Am. Ser. 1 (13); Gen. Bank
23 Sept. 1812 - 16 Jan. 1813 Pilot semi-weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (33); Gen. Bank
1 Jan. 1814 - 25 Feb. 1815 Boston Spectator weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (61); Gen. Bank
20 Aug. 1814 - 13 Oct. 1906 SATURDAY EVENING GAZETTE weekly; NO digital version
3 Jan. 1816 - 23 Dec. 1820
1 Jan. 1821 - 3 May 1872 		Boston Recorder Early Am. Ser. 1 (261); Gen. Bank
Early Am. Ser. 6 (2296); Gen. Bank
17 Aug. 1816 - 30 Dec. 1820 Boston Intelligencer weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (334); Gen. Bank
10 Oct. 1817 - 29 Dec. 1820 New-England Galaxy Early Am. Ser. 1 (171); Gen. Bank
20 Dec. 1817 - 2 Jan. 1819 Idiot Early Am. Ser. 1 (53); Gen. Bank
12 Dec. 1818 - 13 Nov. 1819 Kaleidoscope weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (43); Gen. Bank
1 May 1819 - 31 Dec. 1820
6 Jan. 1821 - 29 Dec. 1827 		Boston Weekly Report public sales and ship arrivals; weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (89); Gen. Bank
with the Agricultural Intelligencer (1820); NO digital version
3 July 1819 - 12 Jan. 1828 Universalist Magazine Early Am. Ser. 3 (112); Gen. Bank
29 May 1819 - 30 Dec. 1820 Christian Watchman weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (81); Gen. Bank
1 Jan. 1820 - 8 July 1820 Ladies' Port Folio Early Am. Ser. 1 (26); Gen. Bank
1 Jan. 1821 - 28 Dec. 1826 Boston Commerical Gazette Early Am. Ser. 1 (531)
14 Jan. 1820 - 7 July 1820 Agricultural Intelligencer and Mechanic Register Friday weekly; Early Am. Ser. 1 (25); Gen. Bank
6 Feb. 1821 - 31 Jan. 1822 American Statesman semi-weekly
20 Apr. 1821 - -- Dec. 1942 CHRISTIAN REGISTER weekly; NO digital version
4 Feb. 1822 - -- Sept. 1893
4 Dec. 1827 - 12 May 1829 		Boston Statesman or Weekly Post
Boston Statesman or Tri-Weekly Post 		weekly; NO digital version
tri-weekly; NO digital version
13 July 1822 - 5 July 1823 Bostonian & Mechanics Journal aka Independent Bostonian NO digital version
3 Aug. 1822 - 25 Dec. 1886 New England Farmer NO digital version
2 Jan. 1823 - 23 Jan. 1840 Boston Commercial Gazette Early Am. Ser. 6 (592)
1 Jan. 1824 - 28 Dec. 1827 Boston Recorder & Telegraph weekly
1 Jan. 1824 - 23 Dec. 1824 Boston Telegraph Religious weekly, Hallock ed.; NO digital version
Mar. 1824 - Dec. 1914
Jan. 1915 - Jan. 1948 		BOSTON COURIER
Boston Courier and Hotel News 		daily to 1866, weekly after; gen. news to 1890, after hotel news; Early Am. Ser. 4 (513), 1844-1863
1 Jan. 1825 - 1 Dec. 1827 Boston Spectator NO digital version
5 July 1825 - 8 July 1967 American Traveller or BOSTON TRAVELLER
Boston Evening Traveller 		semi-weekly, then weekly; Early Am. Ser. 7 (1236), 1825-1837
Early Am. Ser. 9, 1837-1876
Early Am. Ser. 9, 1854-1876; Gen. Bank, 1825-1862, 1854-1967
Newspapers First Published in: Top of Newspapers | 1690-1800 | 1801-1825 | 1826-1840 | 1841-1855

Top of Page

1826 - 1840
Dates Newspaper Title Notes / Online
3 Jan. 1826 - 12 Nov. 1831
1 Jan. 1829 - 29 Sept. 1829
6 Feb. 1830 - 18 Feb. 1832 		Massachusetts Journal
Massachusetts Daily Journal
Massachusetts Journal 		tri-weekly; NO digital version
daily; NO digital version
weekly; NO digital version
4 Mar. 1826 - 30 June 1830 National Philanthropist weekly; NO digital version
19 June 1826 - 29 Dec. 1851
4 Jan. 1830 - 27 Oct. 1864 		Boston Courier
Boston Daily Courier 		semi-weekly; NO digital version
Early Am. Ser. 4 (1428)
26 Nov. 1827 - 26 Aug. 1843
20 Dec. 1827 - 29 Apr. 1830 		Boston Evening Bulletin and U.S. Republican daily; NO digital version
semi-weekly; NO digital version
15 Feb. 1828 - -- May 1830 L'Aurora NO digital version
5 July 1828 - 28 June 1834 Trumpet and Universalist Magazine Early Am. Ser. 6 (313); Gen. Bank
1 Aug. 1828 - 26 Dec. 1828 Anti-Masonic Free Press NO digital version
9 Aug. 1828 - 31 Dec. 1828 Jackson Republican semi-weekly; NO digital version
3 Sept. 1828 - 23 Dec. 1886 Boston Weekly Journal weekly; NO digital version
25 Dec. 1828 - 17 Sept. 1830 American Manufacturer NO digital version
1 Jan. 1829 - 13 Nov. 1835 Daily Commercial Gazette daily; NO digital version
17 Jan. 1829 - 5 May 1830 Anti-Masonic Christian Herald NO digital version
5 Sept. 1829 - 27 Jan. 1838 Pilot or Catholic Sentinel or U.S. Catholic Intelligencer Catholic weekly; NO digital version
2 Oct. 1829 - 19 Dec. 1838 Free Press and Advocate weekly; NO digital version
12 Dec. 1829 - 27 Feb. 1831 Commentator and Sunday Times weekly; NO digital version
12 May 1830 - 10 Apr. 1833 Boston Christian Herald weekly; NO digital version
24 July 1830 - 30 Apr. 1941
19 Nov. 1831 - 28 Dec. 1839 		BOSTON EVENING TRANSCRIPT
Saturday Morning Transcript 		daily; Early Am. Ser. 4 (4470), 1842-1856; Early Am. Ser. 8, 1857-1866
Early Am. Ser. 6 (184); Gen. Bank, 1842-1866; Gen. Bank, 1831-1839
Clarence Saunders Brigham, "Index to Obituary Notices in the Boston Transcript, 1875-1899 and 1900-1930" [Worcester, typ., 1938-1940; photocopy, 1968], 2 vols. and 3 vols.
Note: The earlier volumes in the Boston Daily Advertiser.
WorldCat (Other Libraries) [i.e. Boston Public Library]; 1900-1930 volumes: WorldCat (Other Libraries) and New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston; Not at FS Library.
"Index to Obituary Notices in the Boston Evening Transcript, 1931" (Boston, typ., 1953).
WorldCat (Other Libraries) [i.e. Boston Public Library]; Not at FS Library.
Card Index to the Genealogical Columns of the Boston Evening Transcript, 1915-1935, held by the Boston Public Library Microtext Department.
Boston Evening Transcript Obituary Index, 1932-1941, on index cards only at the Boston Public Library Microtext Department Reference Desk.
13 Sept. 1830 - 1 May 1840 Daily Centinel & Gazette aka Daily Columbian Centinel daily; NO digital version
23 Nov. 1830 - 18 Jan. 1886 Boston Press & Post or Semi-Weekly Advocate semi-weekly; NO digital version
1 Jan. 1831 - 15 Apr. 1906 LIBERATOR Gen. Bank
James de T. Abajian, Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources: An Index to Names and Subjects (Boston, 1977), 3 vols., includes The Liberator, 1848-1850.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); Not at FS Library.
23 Apr 1831 - -- July 1904 Boston Investigator weekly; NO digital version
3 Sept. 1831 - 24 Nov. 1832 Banner of the Church NO digital version
9 Nov. 1831 - -- Oct. 1956 BOSTON POST daily; Early Am. Ser. 4 (134), incomp. 1840-June 1857; Early Am. Ser. 7 (729) July 1858-Oct. 1876
Part of the Zimmer Index, 1878-1937 and the Boston Herald Newspaper Morgue, late 1800s-early 1980s, held by the former Beebe Communications Library at Boston University.
27 Dec. 1831 - 31 Dec. 1838 Boston Daily Advocate daily; NO digital version
7 Jan. 1832 - 4 Feb. 1835 New England Telegraph or Boston Telegraph NO digital version
2 July 1832 - 30 June 1857 Boston Daily Atlas daily; Early Am. Ser. 2 (4923); Gen. Bank, both 18 Dec. 1835-11 Apr. 1857
29 Aug. 1832 - 2 Jan. 1833 Christian Soldier NO digital version
8 Feb. 1833 - 23 Dec. 1882
29 Sept. 1835 - -- Dec. 1842 		Boston Evening Journal
Boston Mercantile Journal 		daily
semi-weekly; NO digital version
Part of the Boston Herald Newspaper Morgue, late 1800s-early 1980s, held by the former Beebe Communications Library at Boston University.
24 Sept. 1834 - 24 Apr. 1835 Boston Daily Whig daily; NO digital version
5 Nov. 1834 - 21 Mar. 1838 New England Spectator NO digital version
9 Jan. 1835 - 1 Feb. 1872 Christian Witness NO digital version
10 Mar. 1836 - 23 Apr. 1857 Boston Daily Times daily; NO digital version
10 Sept. 1836 - 30 Apr. 1837 Saturday Morning Transcript weekly; NO digital version
2 Dec. 1836 - 7 July 1837 Boston Weekly Reformer weekly; NO digital version
31 Dec. 1836 - 3 Nov. 1838 Boston Pearl & Galaxy NO digital version
-- Jan. 1837 - 8 Dec. 1860 Boston Olive Branch weekly; NO digital version
28 Apr. 1837 - 26 Dec. 1839 Youth's Cabinet weekly; NO digital version
1838 - 1840 Yankee Farmer NO digital version
7 Feb. 1838 American weekly; NO digital version
24 Oct. 1838 - 1 Jan. 1840
-- Jan. 1841 - 11 Apr. 1857 		Atlas
Semi-Weekly Atlas 		semi-weekly; NO digital version
semi-weekly; NO digital version
24 Aug. 1838 - 9 May 1845
24 June 1840 - 28 Feb. 1844
1 Jan. 1840 - 16 Nov. 1844 		Bay State Democrat weekly; NO digital version
semi-weekly; NO digital version
daily; NO digital version
5 Sept. 1838 - 6 Nov. 1844 Nettle NO digital version
11 Sept. 1838 - 11 aug. 1840 Thorn NO digital version
1839 - 1840 Robert's World of Romance monthly; NO digital version
11 Jan. 1839 - 27 Dec. 1839 Republic NO digital version
7 Feb. 1839 - 18 Feb. 1841 Massachusetts Abolitionist NO digital version
17 Aug. 1839 - 6 Nov. 1839 Facts for the People weekly; NO digital version
28 Sept. 1839 - 18 Spet. 1847 Boston Notion weekly; NO digital version
1 Apr. 1840 - 5 Nov. 1840 Harrison Democrat weekly; NO digital version
8 Sept. 1840 - 15 Sept. 1840 Monument daily; NO digital version
Newspapers First Published in: Top of Newspapers | 1690-1800 | 1801-1825 | 1826-1840 | 1841-1855

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1841 - 1855
Dates Newspaper Title Notes / Online
2 Jan. 1841 - 21 Dec. 1853 Boston Daily Mail daily; NO digital version
8 Jan. 1841 - 15 July 1841 Puritan weekly; NO digital version
8 Jan. 1841 - 1 Nov. 1872 'Puritan Recorder NO digital version
9 Jan. 1841 - 31 Dec. 1842 Trumpet and Universalist Magazine NO digital version
9 Oct. 1841 - 15 Apr. 1843 Quarto Boston Notion weekly; NO digital version
22 Oct. 1841 - 24 Nov. 1841 Boston Daily News daily; NO digital version
17 Feb. 1842 - 26 Dec. 1850 Emancipator and Republican Early Am. Ser. 2 (459); Gen. Bank
26 Mar. 1842 - 21 Feb. 1852 Uncle Sam NO digital version
25 Apr. 1842 - 14 Nov. 1857 Boston Bee daily; NO digital version
30 July 1842 - 21 May 1853 Yankee Blade weekly; NO digital version
7 Jan. 1843 - 20 Feb. 1847 Sheet Anchor maritime semi-monthly; Internet Archive
31 Aug. 1843 - 7 Nov. 1844 Massachusetts Whig NO digital version
13 Sept. 1843 - 30 Dec. 1874 Boston Shipping List semi-weekly; NO digital version
4 Jan. 1844 - 7 Nov. 1844 New England Democrat weekly; NO digital version
24 Feb. 1844 - 30 Mar. 1850 New England Washingtonian NO digital version
22 Mar. 1844 - 19 Sept. 1845 Boston Morning Chronicle daily; NO digital version
1 Sept. 1844 - 15 Jan. 1845 Social Reformer and Herald of the Universal Health semi-weekly; NO digital version
5 Oct. 1844 - 17 Nov. 1906 Massachusetts Ploughman NO digital version
Dec. 1844 - July 1855 Orphans Advocate NO digital version
8 Aug. 1845 - 17 Dec. 1847 Massachusetts Temperance Standard NO digital version
29 Oct. 1845 - 8 Apr. 1848 Boston Daily Star or National Whig and Star NO digital version
3 Nov. 1845 - 8 Aug. 1848 Boston Daily Whig daily; NO digital version
27 Nov. 1845 - 6 Nov. 1856 Boston Weekly Atlas weekly; NO digital version
2 Jan. 1846 - 17 Dec. 1847 Christian Alliance & Family Visiter NO digital version
16 Mar. 1846 - 1 Jan. 1851
28 May 1846 - 22 Sept. 1849 		Boston Daily Chronotype
Weekly Chronotype 		daily; NO digital version
weekly; NO digital version
May 1846 - Aug. 1846 City Crier & Country Advertiser monthly; NO digital version
-- May 1846 - 2 Dec. 1847 Rechabite and Family Instructor Temperance weekly; NO digital version
2 May 1846 - 14 Dec. 1850 Saturday Rambler weekly; NO digital version
-- Nov. 1846 - 1 Jan. 1848 Boston Merkur German weekly; NO digital version
5 Dec. 1846 - 13 Apr. 1850 American Sentinel with Anglo Sacsun weekly with spelling section; NO digital version
4 Feb. 1847 - 10 May 1849 Boston Reporter weekly; NO digital version
May 1847 - July 1848 American Signal weekly; NO digital version
1 May 1847 - 15 July 1858 Excelsior weekly; NO digital version
15 Sept. 1847 - 2 Oct. 1847 Exhibition Intelligencer NO digital version
25 Mar. 1848 - 23 Sept. 1848 Christian Rationalist weekly; NO digital version
1 May 1848 - PRESENT BOSTON HERALD or Boston Herald Traveller or Boston Herald American Early Am. Ser. 9, 1855-1922; Gen. Bank, 1848-28 Feb. 1990
Part of the Zimmer Index, 1878-1937;
Boston Herald Newspaper Morgue, late 1800s-early 1980s, held by the former Beebe Communications Library at Boston University;
Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue, ca. 1906-1972, about 500,000 images held by the Boston Public Library Print Department;
and the Boston Public Library Obituary index, 1953-2010 (does not include death notices).
4 July 1848 - 21 Oct. 1848 Young Guard NO digital version
9 Aug. 1848 - 15 Nov. 1849
12 Aug. 1848 - 29 May 1850 		Daily Republican
Boston Semi-Weekly Republican 		daily; NO digital version
semi-weekly; NO digital version
17 May 1849 - 13 May 1849 Puritan Recorder weekly; NO digital version
24 May 1849 - -- Mar. 1934 CONGREGATIONALIST weekly; NO digital version
6 Oct. 1849 - 4 Jan. 1868 Norfolk County Journal NO digital version
1 Dec. 1849 - 9 Nov. 1850 Protective Union NO digital version
Jan. 1850 - May 1850 Index for Boston and Vicinity, & Country Advertiser business-oriented
4 Jan. 1850 - 17 Oct. 1851 Christian Times NO digital version
6 Apr. 1850 - 28 Dec. 1850 New Englander NO digital version
26 July 1850 - 29 Apr. 1854
1 Jan. 1851 - 21 Sept. 1854 		Weekly Commonwealth
Daily Commonwealth 		weekly; NO digital version
daily; NO digital version
21 Sept. 1850 - 19 July 1851 Gazette Francaise French weekly; NO digital version
24 Sept. 1850 - 24 Dec. 1851 Index of the City of Boston NO digital version
4 Oct. 1850 - 26 July 1851 Democrat Standard NO digital version
4 Jan. 1851 - 16 Aug. 1862 American Union NO digital version
28 Mar. 1851 - 23 July 1852 Boston Christian Observer weekly; NO digital version
29 Mar. 1851 - 26 Mar. 1853 Carpet Bag weekly; NO digital version
12 June 1851 - 6 Oct. 1917 Boston Morning Journal daily; NO digital version
18 Oct. 1851 - 13 Nov. 1852 Old Bay State NO digital version
8 Nov. 1851 - 22 Sept. 1877 True Flag weekly; NO digital version
3 July 1852 - 27 Oct. 1860 Campaign Post weekly; NO digital version
28 July 1852 - 24 Dec. 1853 International Journal weekly; NO digital version
6 Oct. 1852 - 19 Sept. 1854 Massachusetts Life Boat NO digital version
18 Feb. 1853 - 11 Apr. 1857 Boston Daily Chronicle daily; NO digital version
7 Jan. 1854 - 28 Dec. 1917 Boston Weekly Transcript weekly; NO digital version
27 Sept. 1854 - 10 Apr. 1857
4 Jan. 1855 - 10 Apr. 1857 		Boston Evening Telegraph
Boston Weekly Telegraph 		daily; NO digital version
weekly; NO digital version
23 June 1855 - 20 Sept. 1856 Ladies' Enterprise weekly; NO digital version
22 Dec. 1855 - 31 Oct. 1857 Anglo Saxon, European & Colonial Gazette NO digital version
Add Globe below
1 July 1872 - PRESENT BOSTON GLOBE (title varies) daily; newspaperarchive.com, 1872-1922; Proquest.com, 1872-1981; 1980-present [newer index was published in book form as well]
Part of the Zimmer Index, 1878-1937;
Boston Herald Newspaper Morgue, late 1800s-early 1980s, held by the former Beebe Communications Library at Boston University;
Boston Herald-Traveler Photo Morgue, ca. 1906-1972;
and the Boston Public Library Obituary index, 1953-2010 (does not include death notices).
Newspapers First Published in: Top of Newspapers | 1690-1800 | 1801-1825 | 1826-1840 | 1841-1855

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Archives[edit | edit source]

City of Boston Archives
201 Rivermoor Street
West Roxbury MA 02132
Telephone: 617-635-1195
Fax: 617-635-1194
Email: Archives@cityofboston.gov
Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. by appointment only

FamilySearch Centers & Affiliate Libraries[edit | edit source]

FamilySearch Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local FamilySearch Centers or Affiliate Libraries

  • FamilySearch Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
  • FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a FamilySearch center.

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

Boston Athenaeum
10-1/2 Beacon Street
Boston MA 02108
Telephone: 617-227-0270
Email: reference@bostonathenaeum.org

The Boston Athenæum is a membership library, museum, and venue for intellectual exchange. It was founded in 1807 and is one of this country's oldest, continuously-operating cultural institutions. Its rich, well-documented history and its continuing place in American society and culture are made tangible by the historic building on Boston's famed Beacon Street that it has called home since 1849, and the unique, varied collections of books, manuscripts, and art that it contains.

Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
Telephone: 617-536-5400
Email: ask@bpl.org

The Boston Public Library is a world-class research center with strong collections on local histories, genealogies, New England newspapers, U.S. city directories, rare books, and manuscripts.

The Bostonian Society
206 Washington Street
Boston MA 02109
Telephone: 617-720-1713
Email ashley@bostonhistory.org

The Bostonian Society is dedicated to studying, and preserving Boston’s uniquely important history, embodied in materials, records, and structures such as the Old State House, and in sharing an understanding of the revolutionary ideas born here.

Congregational Library
14 Beacon Street, 2nd Floor
Boston MA 02108
Telephone: 617-523-0470
Email: circ@14beacon.org

The Congregational Library has an impressive collection of records documenting the history of American Congregationalism for the last 300 years. Equally impressive is their collection of New England local, town, and family histories. They also have a strong collection of published Massachusetts vital records. Congregational church records include membership lists, dismissals, baptisms, marriages, minutes of meetings, etc.

Massachusetts Historical Society
1154 Boylston Street
Boston MA 02215
Telephone: 617-646-0532
Fax: 617-859-0074
Email: library@masshist.org

Founded in 1791, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the oldest independent research library, is an invaluable resource for American history, life, and culture. Its extraordinary collections tell the story of America through millions of rare and unique documents, artifacts, and irreplaceable national treasures. Though a private library, it is free to all.

New England Historic Genealogical Society
99-101 Newbury Street
Boston MA 02116-3007
Telephone: 617-536-5740
Email: info@nehgs.org

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), the oldest genealogical society in the country, has a substantial collection of published and manuscript works on New England, Quebec, Maritimes, and European genealogies, source material, and local histories. Notable collections include New England probate, land, and vital records; Quebec church and notarial records; censuses; city directories; Bible records; diaries; and immigration records for most of the New England states and neighboring Canadian provinces. Their manuscript department, which is open only to members, houses more than two million manuscript items. Non-members pay a daily fee.

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Maps[edit | edit source]

This selection incudes town, county, state, and historical maps


Migration[edit | edit source]

New England Migration Routes.png
Migration routes for early European settlers to and from Boston, Massachusetts included:[3]

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Military[edit | edit source]

Some Records are Searchable by Town

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783[edit | edit source]

For more Revolutionary War Military Records see:

Civil War, 1861-1865[edit | edit source]

For more Civil War Military Records see:

World War I, 1917-1918[edit | edit source]

For more World War I Military Records see:

World War II, 1941-1945[edit | edit source]

For more World War II Military Records see:

Obituaries[edit | edit source]

Business and Occupations[edit | edit source]

School Records[edit | edit source]

Emigration and Immigration Records[edit | edit source]

Medical Records[edit | edit source]

Boston Massachusetts References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ William Francis Galvin, Historical Data Relating to Counties, Cities and Towns in Massachusetts (Boston, new ed., 1997), 21-23. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.4 H2h 1997
  2. ↑ First Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston (Boston, 1876), 1.
  3. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 847-61. WorldCat entry; FS Library Book 973 D27e 2002.
  4. ↑ Handybook, 847, 856.
  5. ↑ Boston Post Road in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia (accessed 16 October 2014).
  6. ↑ Handybook, 848, 856.
  7. ↑ Agnes Edwards (Rothery), PDF Book: The Old Coast Road From Boston to Plymouth (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920), 7. At various libraries (WorldCat).
  8. ↑ Handybook, 850, 856.
  9. ↑ Edgar Allen Beem, Maine Road Trip: Route 1: Many Names, One History in Down East - The Magazine of Maine (accessed 27 October 2014).
  10. ↑ William Dollarhide, Map Guide to American Migration Routes 1735-1815 (Bountiful, Utah: Heritage Quest, 1997), 2-4, and 7. (FS Library Collection Book 973 E3d). WorldCat entry.
  11. ↑ King's Highway (Charleston to Boston) in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia (accessed 21 November 2014).
  12. ↑ Handybook, 851, 856.
  13. ↑ Mohawk Trail in Routes in the Northeastern United States: Historic Trail, Roads, and Migration Routes in RootsWeb (accessed 6 October 2014).
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Handybook, 852, 856.
  15. ↑ Old Connecticut Path in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia (accessed 28 October 2014).
  16. ↑ Boston Post Road in Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia (accessed 28 October 2014).
  17. ↑ Cobb's Tavern in Rising Star Lodge, A.F. and A.M. (accessed 16 October 2014).
Adjacent towns: Suffolk Co.: Chelsea | Revere | Winthrop | Middlesex Co.: Cambridge | Everett | Medford | Newton | Somerville | Watertown | Norfolk Co.: Brookline | Canton | Dedham | Milton | Needham | Quincy | Plymouth Co.: Hull
v • d• e
Towns in Suffolk County in Massachusetts articles
Ma-suffolk.pngTowns:
Towns Annexed to Boston:
v • d• e
Links to Massachusetts-related articles
Topics
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Repositories
Allen County Public Library (Ft. Wayne IN) · American Antiquarian Society · Berkshire Athenaeum · Boston Massachusetts FamilySearch Center · Boston Public Library · Dedham Historical Society Library · Harvard University Houghton Library · Haverhill Public Library · Jones Library · Massachusetts Historical Society · Massachusetts State Archives · National Archives at Boston · New England Historic Genealogical Society · New York Public Library NY · Onondaga Historical Association Library (Syracuse NY) · Peabody Essex Museum · Pittsfield Federal Records Center · Plymouth Public Library · Registry of Vital Records and Statistics · Springfield History Library and Archives · State Library of Massachusetts · University of Massachusetts Amherst Library · Vermont Historical Society (Barre VT) · Western Reserve Historical Society (Cleveland, OH)
Migration Routes



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