Brookfield Massachusetts

Narrative of the Captivity of Nehemiah How

Fort Dummer

A Narrative of the captivity of Nehemiah How, who was taken by the Indians at the Great Meadow Fort above Fort Dummer, where he was an inhabitant, October 11th, 1745. Giving an account of what he met with in his traveling to Canada, and while he was in prison there. Together with an account of Mr. How’s death at Canada. Exceedingly valuable for the many items of exact intelligence therein recorded, relative to so many of the present inhabitants of New England, through those friends who endured the hardships of captivity in the mountain deserts and the damps of loathsome prisons. Had the author lived to have returned, and published his narrative himself, he doubtless would have made it far more valuable, but he was cut off while a prisoner, by the prison fever, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, after a captivity of one year, seven months, and fifteen days. He died May 25th, 1747, in the hospital at Quebec, after a sickness of about ten days. He was a husband and father, and greatly beloved by all who knew him.

Brookfield Massachusetts Warnings 1737-1788

Worcester County MA Warnings

In the following information all the names, dates and other essential particulars which appear in the returns to the Court in the County of Worcester during the entire period – a full half-century, from 1737 to 1788 – in which these entries were made, are given. The returns from each place have been brought together and arranged under the name of the town or district, in this case Brookfield Massachusetts.

Nipmuc Tribe

Nipmuc Indians (from Nipamaug, ‘fresh-water fishing place’). The inland tribes of central Massachusetts living chiefly in the south part of Worcester county, extending into Connecticut and Rhode Island. Their chief seats were on the headwaters of Blackstone and Quinebaug rivers, and about the ponds of Brookfield. Hassanamesit seems to have been their principal village in 1674, but their villages had no apparent political connection, and the different parts of their territory were subject to their more powerful neighbors, the Massachuset, Wampanoag, Narraganset, and Mohegan, and even tributary to the Mohawk. The Nashua, dwelling farther north, are sometimes classed with the … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Jacob Walker

Jacob Walker, from Brookfield, Mass., located on road 38 at an early date. Mr. Walker, more popularly known as Dea. Jacob Walker, was for many years the county surveyor. He married Philippa Story, by whom he reared a family of nine children, two of whom, Zebiah Burke, aged eighty-three years, and Cynthia Stevens, aged seventy-eight years, are living. For his second wife Mr. Walker married Johanna Fitch, by whom he reared four children. Jacob was born in 1765, and died in 1843, aged seventy-seven years. His son, Cordilla F., now resides in Morrisville.

Biographical Sketch of William Walker

William Walker, from Brookfield, Mass., located in the northern part in 1800, where he died in 1813. Lyman, the youngest of his nine children, born in 1811, resided on the old homestead, held many of the town offices, and died in 1879. He reared five children, all of whom now reside here.

Free Massachusetts Vital Records

Vital Records of Bellingham Massachusetts to 1850

This is a collection of free vital records books, otherwise known as “Tan Books” for Massachusetts towns. Generally, these records go up to 1849/1850 at which, the genealogist can use the census records to assist in identifying the family connections further. Included with this article is an account of why and how these manuscripts were published along with links to all 198 books which can be freely read or downloaded.