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.
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
The progenitor in New England of those bearing the family name of Hough was William Hough, son of Edward Hough, of Westchester, in Cheshire, England. This William Hough was known as a house carpenter at Gloucester, Mass., along just prior to the middle of the seventeenth century. He lived at Trynall Cove, where and on Biskie island, opposite, he had land. It is not known that his father came to New England, but it is believed by those who have written of the family that Ann Hough, who died at Gloucester in 1672, aged eighty-five years, was Edward’s widow and the mother of William Hough. The latter was selectman in 1649 and 1650. His departure from Gloucester is spoken of in the latter year, when he joined the migration to New London, Conn., and in that State the family is a numerous one. William Hough married Oct. 28, 1645, Sarah, daughter of Hugh Calkins, and of their ten children the first three were born at Gloucester and the others at New London.
Among the most prominent law offices in southern Massachusetts is one which by lineal succession has existed for nearly, if not quite, a hundred years, and in which three generations of the Clifford family have been represented. The members of the Clifford family who have been such important factors in this old and prominent law firm came of a distinguished ancestry. The late John H. Clifford was a direct descendant in the eighth generation from George Clifford, who came with his wife Elizabeth and son John from Arnold village and parish, Nottinghamshire, England, to Boston in 1644.
(II) James (2), second son and fourth child of James (1) and Anna Hamlin, was born in England and baptized April 10, 1636, at St. Lawrence parish, Reading, Berkshire. He came to Plymouth colony, New England, with his mother and sisters, prior to 1642, and married, November 20, 1662, at Barnstable in that colony, Mary, daughter of John and Mary Dunham. John Dunham, who was an inhabitant of Marlborough, Massachusetts, in 1623, was deputy to the general court several years and died in 1692, aged seventy-two years. He was a son of Deacon John Dunham, who came from England to … Read more