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One expects an ample supply of church records in a state whose history is so interwoven with religious principles and dissension, and such is the case in Massachusetts; many exist in either published form by themselves or in numerous periodicals or noted in several collections of inventories. Some early church records of vital events were included in the Systematic Series. Church records often contain other genealogical information such as admissions and dismissals indicating migration. Original records not held by the church itself are often deposited in central denominational libraries. The Corbin Collection includes many church records for the western part of the state. The following will guide the researcher to finding the appropriate records in Massachusetts for some of the historically largest or prominent denominations:
• Baptist. Southern (1800-1960) and American Baptist (1699-1872) church records for Boston are on microfilm at their national headquarters in Nashville, Tenn., and Rochester, N.Y., respectively.
• Congregational. The Congregational Library, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02108.
• Episcopal. See WPA, Inventory of Church Archives of Massachusetts: Protestant Episcopal Church which was produced in 1942, and the Diocesan Library and Archives, 138 Tremont Street, Boston, MA.
• Jewish. Records can be found at the American Jewish Historical Society Library, 2 Thornton Road, Waltham, MA 02154, which is located on campus of Brandeis University.
• Methodist. See the Boston University School of Theology Library, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, for Methodist records.
• Roman Catholic. Archives of the Archdiocese of Boston, 2121 Commonwealth Avenue, Brighton, MA 02135.
• Society of Friends (Quakers). See Rhode Island -Archives - Rhode Island Historical Society), and Essex Institute.
• Unitarian-Universalist. Harvard Divinity School Library, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138.
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Cemeteries are maintained by towns, churches, families and, later, private enterprises. Some records for Boston's oldest cemeteries, such as Central and Granary, have been published.
The state DAR annual volumes of cemetery (Bible, family and church) records transcribed by local chapters are helpful, but there is no central repository for maintaining them as is often the case for other states. Copies of some of the DAR volumes are at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Periodicals and repositories throughout the state have many examples of transcriptions, the most notable are the Berkshire Athenaeum and New England Historic Genealogical Society. The Systematic Series of town vital records included some information from gravestones. Some of these transcriptions and others in the Corbin Collection are at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
Cemetery records and gravestone inscriptions are a rich source of information for family historians. Cemetery and other sources of information associated with death include:
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- Biographical works
- Burial permits
- Church burial registers
- Cemetery records (often several different kinds are kept)
- Cemetery indexes (often compiled by genealogical societies)
- Cemetery sextons’ records
- Cemetery deed and plot registers
- Death certificates
- Death indexes
- Family bibles
- Family burial plots
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- Funeral director’s records
- Grave opening orders
- Gravestone (monument) inscriptions
- Military records
- Monuments and memorials
- Necrologies
- Newspaper death notices
- Obituaries
- Probate records
- Published death records
- Religious records
- Transcriptions of cemetery inscriptions
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