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.
TIMOTHY FULLER, the sixth child and third son of Jacob Fuller, was born at Middleton, on the 18th of May, 1739. He entered Harvard University at the age of nineteen, and graduated in 1760. His name over that date is still (1859) seen on the corner-stone of one of the college buildings. He applied himself to theology, and in March, 1767, received from the church and town of Princeton, Mass., a nearly unanimous invitation to become their pastor, having previously supplied their pulpit for two years. Here he was ordained the first minister of Princeton, 9th September, 1767. In 1770 … Read more
John J. Ingalls was a genius and one of the most versatile statesmen, scholars and writers which Kansas had produced. He was born at Middletown, Massachusetts, December 29, 1833, a son of Elias T. and Eliza (Chase) Ingalls, and a descendant of Edmond Ingalls, who, with his brother Francis, founded the town of Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1628. Mr. Ingalls graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1855, and two years later was admitted to the bar in his native county of Essex. In 1858 he came to Kansas and served as a member of the Wyandotte constitutional convention in 1859, in … Read more
In 1638 THOMAS FULLER came from England to America upon a tour of observation, intending, after he should have gratified his curiosity by a survey of the wilderness world, to return. While in Massachusetts, he listened to the preaching of Rev. Thomas Shepard, of Cambridge, who was then in the midst of a splendid career of religious effort and eloquence, the echo of which, after the lapse of two centuries, has scarcely died away. Through his influence Thomas Fuller was led to take such an interest in the religion of the Puritan school, that the land of liturgies and religious … Read more
Sarah Titcomb over her years of study of various New England families had collected quite a bit of material of several early New England families. At the bequest of some of her friends, she prepared and published them in book form. When reading through the material I was impressed with the amount of material collected on each individual, and rather then a brief genealogical sketch, readers are provided an in-depth study of each early family: Ayer, Bartlett, Bradley, Chase, Dean, Dow, Dunster, Ellis, Fuller, Hope, Kilby, Martine, Les Dernier, Maverick, Mills, Montague, Pemberton, Pepperrell, Poore, Precott, Sewall, Longfellow, Spofford, Titcomb, Watmough, and Willard.
The Massachusetts Tax Valuation List of 1771 contains the names and descriptions of taxable property of nearly 38,000 individuals who resided in 152 Massachusetts towns in 1771