From 1890-1903, the Dedham Historical Society in Dedham Massachusetts printed a quarterly pamphlet for it’s historical society called the “Dedham Historical Register.” In this pamphlet a variety of genealogical data was published on families of Dedham and the villages emanating from the early residents of Dedham, such as Dorchester, Franklin, Medfield, Medway, Needham, and Sharon, etc.
The descent of the Converse family, of Thompson, from Roger de Coigneries, one of the trusted chieftains of William the Conqueror, has been elsewhere given in this volume, and need not be repeated here.. The first member of the family to emigrate from England to America was Deacon Edward Convers, who settled in Woburn, Mass. His grandson, Samuel Convers, in 1710 removed to, Thompson parish, then Killingly, and became the progenitor of all branches of the family who bear the name, in Thompson. In the line of descent was Edward Convers, whose son Jonathan was the father of Deacon Jonathan … Read more
About 1860, Charles Curtis Greenwood, a local antiquarian of ability, began to copy the inscriptions in the old graveyard at Needham, and to prepare genealogical notes in reference to each person buried there. He devoted much time and correspondence to this work, and in 1890 began to publish the results of his labors in the Dedham Historical Register. At the time of his death 397 epitaphs had been published and 228 remained in manuscript, most of which were annotated. His widow conscripted George Kuhn Clark to publish the remaining inscriptions along with all of the published inscriptions in a single volume in 1898 called “Needham Epitaths.” Clark, relying on the original transcription of Charles, along with his own new transcription, re-walked all of the cemeteries, enumerating the gravestones once again. Includes genealogical notes of the people interred.