Pembroke, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States Massachusetts  Plymouth  Pembroke

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

Town Clerk
100 Center Street Pembroke, MA 02359 Phone: 781-293-7211 Fax: 781-709-1456 Email: [mailto:msmith@townofpembrokemass.org msmith@townofpembrokemass.org] Website

Brief History
Pembroke is situated at the head of the navigable portion of the North River known for ship building. The first settlers were Robert Barker and Dolor Davis near Herring Brook. It was the site of the first sawmill in the colony for the first forty years. An iron works was established by 1720. The town was in Plymouth Colony. The town was 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 Pembroke at one time was called Major's Purchase, Marshfield Upper Lands, and Mattakeeset.

Village or section names include Bryantville, Crookertown, East Pembroke, Fosterville, North Pembroke, Pembroke Center, Schooset, and Standish. Border changes Top of Page

Town Histories
Works written on the town include:

Top of Page
 * Henry Wheatland Litchfield, Ancient Landmarks of Pembroke (Pembroke, Mass., 1909), 188 pp. Digital version at Internet Archive and Hathi Trust. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Barbara Merrick, "The Original Church Records of Gad Hitchcock, D.D., 1748 to 1803: Deaths" in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 136 [1982]: 31-42. Scanned version of these pages found online.
 * Pembroke Wikipedia page.

Vital Records
The town's vital records are available in many locations: Original records Published records
 * Pembroke Town Clerk's Office 100 Center Street Pembroke MA 02359 Phone 781-293-7211
 * Microfilm of the originals created by the Family History Library, Pembroke vital records, 1694-1844, ; 1663-1897, ; Town and vital records, 1711-1841, ; Proprietors of the Common Land (includes family records, 1702-1771), . These records are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on.
 * Microfiche of the originals created by Archive Publishing covering town records that included vital records and a few other town records, 1662-1897, on 75 fiche. Part of Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620–1988 at Ancestry ($); Index
 * Official state copy of vital records starting in 1841: Massachusetts Archives 220 Morrissey Blvd. Boston MA 02125 Phone 617-727-2816 Email [mailto:archives@sec.state.ma.us archives@sec.state.ma.us] Hours and Directions See the online guide for more information.
 * Vital Records of Pembroke, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, 1911). These volumes were microfilmed by the Family History Library . Digital versions at Internet Archive, Ancestry ($), in a database on American Ancestors ($), and an online transcription. WorldCat (Other Libraries); with digital link.


 * This includes, in part, church records from the First Unitarian Church (C.R.1), Second Church of Christ (C.R.2), Baptist Church (C.R.3), and the Society of Friends of Pembroke [now with the New Bedford Monthly Meeting] (C.R.4). Deaths are included from Pembroke Centre Cem. (G.R.1), Stetson Burying Ground (G.R.2), Mount Pleasant Cem., Bryantville (G.R.3), Two Mile Cem. (G.R.4), Briggs Cem., North Pembroke (G.R.5), East Pembroke Cem. (G.R.6), High Street Cem. (G.R.7), Chapel Ground (G.R.8), and the Friends Burying Ground (G.R. 9).

Online records Top of Page
 * Charles Eliot Goodspeed, "Pembroke (Mass.) Records" in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 69 [1915]: 283-284, probably records of Rev. Daniel Lewis covering 1742 to 1743.
 * Pembroke vital records, 1694-1844, 1663-1897, town and vital records, 1711-1841; Proprietors of the Common Land (includes family records, 1702-1771) are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on.

City Directories
Pembroke was published in 1914 (under Carver).

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:

Top of Page
 * Ancestry ($) has 1914 (under Carver).
 * Boston Public Library has 1914 (under Carver).
 * Family History Library (Salt Lake City) has 1914 on.
 * fold3 ($) has none.
 * Massachusetts State Library has 1914 (under Carver).
 * New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston) ($) has 1914.

Cemeteries
The following is a list of cemeteries in present-day Pembroke. Use the map on PlymouthColony.net to locate the cemeteries. For more details regarding these cemeteries, see the state guide under cemeteries for books on the subject.


 * Briggs Cemetery / Barker Burial Ground, 1722. (A, B) John W. Willard, "Gravestone Records in the Briggs Burial Ground, North Pembroke" in Mayflower Descendant, 11 [1909]: 168-170.
 * Brown Cemetery, 19th century. (C)
 * Centre Cemetery, 1715. (A, C)
 * Chapel Ground Cemetery, n.d. (A)
 * Friends Burying Ground, 18th century. (A, B) John W. Willard, Stanley W. Smith, Edward H. Whorf, and Arthur M. Jones, "Friends Burying Ground, Washington Street, North Pembroke, Mass." in Mayflower Descendant, 11 [1909]: 128.
 * Seth Hatch Family Cemetery, 1799.
 * Loring Cemetery, 1815-1861. John W. Willard, "Gravestone Records from the Loring Cemetery, East Pembroke, Mass." in Mayflower Descendant, 11 [1909]: 219-220.
 * Luther Magoun Family Cemetery, 18th century.
 * Paul Magoun Family Cemetery, 1844.
 * Silas Morton-Barstow Tomb, 19th century.
 * Mount Pleasant Cemetery, 19th century. (A, B, C) Alicia Crane Williams, "Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Pembroke Centre, Mass." in Mayflower Descendant, 35 [1985]: 65-68, 163-166; 36 [1986]: 59-62; 37 [1987]: 7-10, 171-172; 38 [1988]: 61-62, 181-182; 39 [1989]: 59-60, 167-168; 40 [1990]: 185-186.
 * Pine Grove / East Pembroke Cemetery, 1813-1900. (A) John W. Willard and Stanley W. Smith, "Pine Grove Cemetery, East Pembroke, Mass." in Mayflower Descendant, 11 [1909]: 63-64.
 * Private Burial Ground, 1844-1850. John W. Willard and Edward H. Whorf, "Private Burial Ground on Hip Top on Water Street, North Pembroke, Mass." in Mayflower Descendant, 12 [1910]: 256.
 * Randall Lot Cemetery, 1871.
 * Sachem Lodge / High Street Cemetery, 19th century. (A)
 * Stetson Burial Ground, n.d. (A, C)
 * Two Mile Cemetery, 1707-1859. (A) Stanley W. Smith, "Records from the Cemetery at the Corner of Water and Church Streets, North Pembroke, Mass." in Mayflower Descendant, 11 [1909]: 86-87.

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to: (A). Vital Records of Pembroke, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, 1911). [See links above for various versions of this source.] (B). Charles M. Thatcher, Old Cemeteries of Southeastern Massachusetts (Middleborough, Mass., 1995). WorldCat (Other Libraries); (C). New England Historic Genealogical Society, Manuscript 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.


 * Society of Friends, 1708, records good. Records on microfilm as Pembroke Monthly Meeting records, 1676-1876,, includes Sandwich Quarterly Meeting minutes.
 * First Unitarian Church (now First Church in Pembroke), 1712, records good after 1763. Records on microfilm, Church records, 1711-1899,.
 * Second Religious Society [not in 1889 survey]. Records online as Baptisms in the Second Religious Society, Pembroke, 1749-1825 ($).
 * Methodist Episcopal Church, Bryantville, 1825, records fair.
 * St. Thecla Catholic Church, 1963.
 * North River Community Church, 1989.
 * Pembroke Assembly of God, n.d.
 * High Street United Methodist Church, n.d.

Top of Page

Newspapers

 * The Union, 1856.
 * Silver Lake News, 1955-1956.
 * Pembroke Mariner, 1983-2003.
 * Pembroke Reporter, 1984-2006.

Top of Page

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

Pembroke Public Library 142 Center Street Pembroke MA 02359 Phone 781-293-6771 Email [mailto:feedback@pembrokepubliclibrary.org feedback@pembrokepubliclibrary.org]

Pembroke Historical Society 100 Center Street PO Box 122 Pembroke MA 02359 Phone 781-293-9083 Email [mailto:pembrokehistoric@aol.com pembrokehistoric@aol.com]