Wareham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Genealogy

This is a historical and genealogical guide to the town of Wareham. You will find help with town histories, vital records, city directories, cemetery records and cemeteries, churches, town records, newspapers, maps, and libraries.

Town Clerk
54 Marion Road Wareham, MA 02571 Phone: 508-291-3140 Fax: 508-291-6511 Email: [mailto:masilva@wareham.ma.us masilva@wareham.ma.us] Website

Brief History
The section called Agawam was purchased from the Native owners in 1665. This area was leased for terms of seven years starting in 1678 bringing settlement to the region in this area of Plymouth Colony. That area was joined with the east side of Rochester to form the town of Wareham which placed in Plymouth County. For a brief time, the area was part of the Dominion of New England from 1686 to 1689. The town is still in Plymouth County, though was in limbo, until the "Colony" was merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691 that became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Historical Data
The basic data is from the "Historical Data" publication series with additions from various sources. Associated names Wareham at one time was called Agawam Plantation, Cowesit, and Quansit.

Village or section names include Agawam, Center Village, Barney's Point, Cohasset Narrows, East Wareham, Fearing's Hill, Great Neck, Hamilton Beach, Indian Neck, Kenney Mills, Locke Bog, Long Neck, Narrow's Village, Oakdale, Onset, Onset Bay, Onset Junction, Parker Mills, Parkwood Beach, Parlowtown, Pinehurst Beach, Point Independence, South Wareham, Swift's Beach, Tempest Knob Station, Tihonet, Tremont, Wareham Center, Waters Bog, West End, West Wareham, and Yellow Town. Border changes Top of Page

Town Histories
Works written on the town include:

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 * N. W. Everett, "History of Wareham" in D. Hamilton Hurd, ed., History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts ... (Philadelphia, 1884). Digital version at Internet Archive.
 * William Root Bliss, "The Agawame Plantation", in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 41 [1887]: 194-201.
 * M. H. Leonard, "Old Rochester and Her Daughter Towns" in New England Magazine, New Ser., 20 [1899]: 612-635.
 * Charles L. Bates, A Brief History of the Town of Wareham (Wareham, Mass., 1939), 36 pp.
 * Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts: being a History of these Towns and also in part of Marion and a portion of Wareham ([Mattapoisett, Mass.], 3rd ed., 1950), 426 pp. Digital versions of the 1907 edition at Internet Archive and Google Books WorldCat (Other Libraries); ;.
 * Daisy Washburn Lovell, Glimpses of Early Wareham (Wareham, Mass., 1970), 139 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Wareham Wikipedia page.

Vital Records
The town's vital records are available in many locations: Original records Published records Online records Top of Page
 * Wareham Town Clerk's Office 54 Marion Road Wareham MA 02571 Phone 508-291-3140
 * Microfilm of the originals created by the Family History Library, Wareham town and vital records, 1739-1876,, vital records, 1738-1893, . These records are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.
 * Microfiche of the originals created by Archive Publishing covering town records that included vital records and a few other town records, 1719-1892, on 41 fiche. Soon to be part of Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620–1988 at Ancestry ($); Index
 * Official state copy of vital records starting in 1841: Massachusetts Archives 220 Morrissey Blvd. Boston MA 02125 Phone 617-727-2816 Email [mailto:archives@sec.state.ma.us archives@sec.state.ma.us] Hours and Directions See the online guide for more information.
 * Richard W. Griffith,Abstracts of Vital Records of the Town of Wareham, Massachusetts from Town Books 1 and 2 (Wareham, Mass., 1996), 165 leaves These volumes were microfiched by the Family History Library . WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Leonard H. Smith, Vital records, Sandwich, Mass. and Wareham, Mass. index an index to the vital records of Sandwich, Mass. to approximately 1775 and Wareham, Mass. to approximately 1814, as published 1899-1934 in the Mayflower Descendant (Clearwater, Fla., 1975), [6], 34, 27 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Town of Wareham, Massachusetts Index of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, 1859-1900 (East Bridgewater, Mass., 1988)., 1 vol.
 * Wareham town and vital records, 1739-1876, vital records, 1738-1893, are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.

City Directories
Wareham was published in 1903/4, 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1924/5, 1926, 1928/9, 1935.

The Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.) has one of the largest collections of city directories in the country. They are likely to own most of the years listed above. Their collection is in microfiche, microfilm, and books, but there is no online inventory of their holdings except for microfilm. See their guide online.

Other holdings:

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 * Ancestry ($) has 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1924/5, 1928/9.
 * Boston Public Library has 1903-1929, 1935.
 * Family History Library (Salt Lake City) has 1903/4, 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1924/5, 1928/9 on.
 * fold3 ($) has none.
 * Massachusetts State Library has 1903/4, 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1924/5.
 * New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston) ($) has 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1928/9.

Cemeteries
The following is a list of cemeteries in present-day Wareham. For more details regarding these cemeteries, see the state guide under cemeteries for books on the subject. There is a manuscript in town listing all gravestones by James M. Lincoln, "All Inscriptions in Wareham Cemeteries to 1904," ms., 1904.


 * Agawam Neck Cemetery, 1685. (A, B, C) Transcription of gravestones online.
 * Briggs Lane or Pierce Mill Cemetery, n.d. (C)
 * Centre or Parker Mills Cemetery, 1810. (A, B, C) Transcription of gravestones online.
 * Long Neck Cemetery, 1823. (A, B, C) Transcription of gravestones online.
 * Nickerson Family Cemetery, 1835. (C)
 * Packard Family Cemetery, 1852. (C)
 * St. Patrick's Cemetery, n.d. (A, C)
 * Tobey-Fearing-Bliss Burial Ground, 1819. (B)

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to: (A). Richard W. Griffith, Cemetery Gravestone Inscriptions, Wareham, Massachusetts (West Wareham, Mass., 2003), 1 vol. WorldCat (Other Libraries);. (B). Charles M. Thatcher, Old Cemeteries of Southeastern Massachusetts (Middleborough, Mass., 1995). WorldCat (Other Libraries);. (C). New England Historic Genealogical Society, Manuscripts Dept. Top of Page

Churches
The following is a list of churches established in town in order of organization date (if known) and condition of records in the 1889 survey if listed.


 * Congregational Church (now First Congregational Church of Wareham), 1739, records good. Records of the First Congregational Church in Wareham, 1739-1850, . Leonard H. Smith Jr., Records of the First Church of Wareham, Mass., 1739-1891 (Clearwater, Fla., [1974]), 150 leaves [reprint with index],.
 * First Christian Church, 1831-1848. [Also called The Baptist Society, their first and only minister left for Rhode Island in 1837 and they have never had another settled minister.] Records of the First Christian Church in Wareham, 1831-1848, photocopy of originals,.
 * Methodist Episcopal Church, 1843, records good.
 * St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, 1865, no condition given.
 * Good Shepherd Protestant Episcopal Church (now Church of the Good Shepherd), 1883, no condition given. Church of the Good Shepherd Church records, 1882-1924 (Episcopal),.
 * Community of Christ, n.d.
 * Emmaunuel A Church of the Nazarene, n.d.
 * Evangelical Zion Church, n.d.
 * Onset Foursquare Church, n.d.
 * Tabernacle of Praise, n.d.
 * Vineyard Crossroads, A Community Church, n.d.

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Newspapers

 * Wareham Courier, 1905-1918, 1931-2006.

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Libraries and Historical Societies
The following is a list of research facilities in town:

Wareham Free Library 59 Marion Road Wareham MA 02571 Phone 508-295-2343

Wareham Historical Society 495 Main Street PO Box 211 Wareham MA 02558 Phone 508-295-6839 Email [mailto:info@dyerlibrary.org info@dyerlibrary.org]