Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Genealogy

This is a historical and genealogical guide to the town of Duxbury. You will find help with town histories, vital records, city directories, cemetery records and cemeteries, churches, town records, newspapers, maps, and libraries. There are detailed guides for the towns set off from Duxbury: Bridgewater, Kingston, and Pembroke.

Town Clerk
878 Tremont St Duxbury, MA 02332 Phone: 781-934-1100 x 5450 Fax: 781-934-1133 Email: [mailto:kelley@town.duxbury.ma.us kelley@town.duxbury.ma.us] Website

Brief History
This area was first settled in 1632 by people from Plymouth and set off from that town in 1637. During this century, the town was always in the jurisdiction of Plymouth Colony. The town was placed in Plymouth County when counties were formed in 1685. For a brief time, the town 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 Duxbury at times has been called Ducksburrow, Green Harbor, Mattakeeset, and Namassakeesett.

Village or section names include Ashdod, Captain's Hill, Cedar Crest, Duxbury Beach, Fordsville, Gardnerville, Hall's Corner, Hatchville, Island Creek, Millbork, North Duxbury, Powder Point, South Duxbury, Tarklin, Tinertown, and West Duxbury. Border changes Top of Page

Town Histories
Go to Archive.org to find published materials for this town. Works written on the town include:


 * Justin Winsor, History of the Town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, with Genealogical Register (Boston, 1849) [many reprints available], viii, 360 pp. Digital versions at Internet Archive, Google Books, and on Ancestry ($). WorldCat (Other Libraries); (with link to digital version) and.


 * The family sketches include the families: Alden, Ames, Andrews, Armstrong, Arddaton, Arnold, Baker, Barker, Barstow, Bartin, Bartlett, Bassett, Bates, Beare, Biddle, Bisbee, Bishop, Blush, Bonney, Booth, Bosworth, Bourne, Bowers, Bowman, Bradford, Brett, Brewster, Briggs, Brown, Bryant, Bumpus, Burgess, Burne, Burton, Butler, Carver, Cary, Chamberlain, Chandler, Chapman, Church, Clark, Coe, Cole, Collier, Cooper, Corvannel, Cullifer, Curtis, Cushing, Cushman, Dammon, Darling, Davis, Davy, Dawes, Delano, Despard, Devell, Dingley, Drew, Dwelley, Eaton, Ensign, Eversor, Ferniside, Fish, Fisher, Fobes, Ford, Frazer, Freeman, Frost, Fuller, Gannett, Gardner, Glass, Godfrey, Goole, Gorham, Haden, Hales, Hall, Harlow, hanbury, Handmer, Hanks, Harding, Harlow, Harmon, Harris, Hartub, Hatch, Hathaway, Hawes, hayward, hewitt, Hicks, Hill, Hillier, Holmes, House, Howard, Howland, Hudson, Hunt, Hussey, Irish, Jackson, Joyce, Keene, Kemp, Kidbye, Knight, Lambert, Land, Latham, Lathley, Lathrop, Lawrence, Lazell, Leonard, Leurich, Leyhorne, Lindall, Loring, Louden, Macomber, Magoon, Maynard, McFarland, McLaughlin, Mendall, Mendame, Menlowe, Merrick, Mitchell, Moore, Morey, Morton, Mullins, Mynor (Minor), Nash, Neal, Nelson, Norcut, Oldham, Osborn, Pabodie, Paddock, Palmer, Parris, Partridge, Peakes, Peirce, Peterson, Phillips, Pidcock, Pollard, Pontus, Prence, Prince, Prior, Randall, Read, Reynolds, Richards, Richardson, Ripley, Robbins, Roberts, Robinson, Rogers, Rose, Rouse, Rowe, Russell, Samson, Saunders, Seabury, Shaw, Shawson, Sherman, Simmons, Smith, Snow, Soule, Southworth, Sprague, Sprout, Standish, Stanford, Starr, Stetson, Stockbridge, Switzer, Sylvester, Thacher, Thomas, Thorp, Tisdell, Tompkins, Tower, Tracy, Truant, Tubbs, Turner, Ussell, Vincent, Wadsworth, Walker, Wallis, Wanton, Washburn, Waterman, Watson, West, Weston, Weyborne, White, Williamson, Willis, Wilson, Wing, Winslow, Winsor, Witherell, and Wormall.

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 * Copy of the Old Records of the Town of Duxbury, Mass., from 1642 to 1770, made in the year 1892 (Plymouth, Mass., 1893), 348 pp. Digital versions at Internet Archive, Google Books, and on Ancestry ($). WorldCat (Other Libraries); (with link to digital version) and.
 * E. J. V. Huiginn, The Graves of Myles Standish and other Pilgrims (Beverly, Mass., rev. and enl. ed., 1914), 218 pp. Digital versions at Internet Archive and Google Books. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Ellesley Waldo Long, ed.The Story of Duxbury, 1637-1937 (Duxbury, Mass., [1937]), xiv, + 237 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Dorothy Wentworth, Settlement and Growth of Duxbury, 1628-1870 (Duxbury, Mass., 1973), xiv, 144 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Duxbury Wikipedia page.

Vital Records
The town of Duxbury kept annual town reports. These reports often contained birth, marriage, and death information. Below is a list of years when Duxbury kept town reports. (NOTE: Occasionally, these town reports missed vital statistic information from the end of the year. If you don't find your ancestor's vital information, check the following year's town report to see if your ancestor's information was recorded later.)

The town's vital records are available in many locations: Original records Published records
 * Duxbury Town Clerk's Office 878 Tremont Street Duxbury MA 02332 Phone 781-934-1100 ext. 150 Email [mailto:Town-Clerk@Town.Duxbury.MA.US Town-Clerk@Town.Duxbury.MA.US]
 * Microfilm of the originals created by the Family History Library, Town and vital records, 1645-1826, ; Births by family, 1702-1771, ; Births, 1774-1849, . 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, 1661-1907, on 52 fiche. Part of Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620–1988 at Ancestry ($); Index
 * Official state copy of vital records starting in 1841: Massachusetts Archives 220 Morrissey Blvd. Boston MA 02125 Phone 617-727-2816 Email [mailto:archives@sec.state.ma.us archives@sec.state.ma.us] Hours and Directions See the online guide for more information.
 * Vital Records of Duxbury, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, 1911). This volume was microfilmed by the Family History Library, ; abstracted online at PlymouthColony.net; and in digital versions at Internet Archive and Google Books. In database at American Ancestors ($). WorldCat (Other Libraries);.


 * This includes, in part, church records from the First Church and Parish of Duxbury (C.R.1), First Society of Methodists (C.R.2), Pilgrim Church (C.R.3), and the Society of Friends of Pembroke [now (1911) with the Society at New Bedford] (C.R.4). Deaths are included from Old Cem., Chestnut Street, South Duxbury (G.R.1), Dingley Cem., Crooked Lane (G.R.2), Large Cem. (G.R.3), Ashdod Cem. (G.R.4), and the cemetery in back of the present [1911] Episcopal Church, formerly the Methodist Church (G.R.5).
 * [Note: Missing are seven marriages from county court records for 1693 and 1694 published in Pilgrim Notes and Queries, 3 [1915]: 120-122.]

Online records Top of Page
 * Town and vital records, 1645-1826, Births by family, 1702-1771, Births, 1774-1849, are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.

City Directories
Duxbury was published in 1894, 1906, 1910, 1914, 1915.

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 ($) has 1915.
 * Boston Public Library has none.
 * Family History Library (Salt Lake City) has 1894, 1906, 1910, 1914.
 * fold3 ($) has none.
 * Massachusetts State Library has 1894, 1906, 1915.
 * New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston) ($) has 1894, 1915.

Cemeteries
The following is a list of cemeteries in present-day Duxbury. Remember that the "old" town included present-day Bridgewater, Kingston, and Pembroke. For location of cemeteries, see PlymouthColony website. For more details regarding these cemeteries, see the state guide under cemeteries for books on the subject. The town cemetery department has created a cemetery history for the town.


 * Ashdod Cemetery, 1811. (A, B)
 * Cemetery behind old Methodist Church [now (1911) Episcopal Church], n.d. (A, B)
 * Crooked Lane / Dingley Cemetery, 18th Century. (A, B)
 * First Church, n.d. (B)
 * Large Cemetery, n.d. (A)
 * Old Burying Ground / Standish Cemetery, 17th Century. (A, B)
 * Orthodox Church Cemetery, South Duxbury, n.d.
 * Unitarian Church Cemetery, 1788. (B)
 * Walker Cemetery, n.d.

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to: (A). Vital Records of Duxbury, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, 1911) [see links above under Vital Records]. (B). Charles M. Thatcher, Old Cemeteries of Southeastern Massachusetts (Middleborough, Mass., 1995). WorldCat (Other Libraries);. 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.


 * First Unitarian Church (now First Parish Church), 1632, records lost before 1739.
 * Society of Friends, 1702 [attached to the Pembroke Monthly Meeting, and by 1876 to the New Bedford Monthly Meeting].
 * Pilgrim [Congregational] Church (now Pilgrim Church of Duxbury) [United Church of Christ], 1843, no condition given.
 * Methodist Episcopal Church, 1868, no condition given
 * Christian Science Church, n.d.
 * First Baptist Church of Duxbury, n.d.
 * High Street United Methodist Church, n.d.
 * Holy Family Parish [Catholic], n.d.
 * St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, n.d.
 * St. Paul's Church of the Nazarene, n.d.

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Military Records

 * 1864 Volunteer Enlistments to the Army and Navy - a listing of enlistments is contained in the annual town report for 1864.

Newspapers

 * Duxbury Clipper, 1969-present.
 * Duxbury Reporter, 1987-present.
 * Duxbury Mariner, 1996-present.

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

Duxbury Free Library 77 Alden Street Duxbury MA 02332 Phone 781-934-2721

The Duxbury Rural &amp; Historical Society 479 Washington Street Duxbury MA 02331 Phone 781-934-6106 Email: [mailto:info@duxburyhistory.org info@duxburyhistory.org]

Alden Kindred of America 105 Alden Street Duxbury MA 02331 Phone 781-934-9092 Email: [mailto:aldenhouse@comcast.net aldenhouse@comcast.net]