Scituate, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States Massachusetts  Plymouth  Scituate

This is a historical and genealogical guide to the town of Scituate. 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 Scituate: Hanover and South Scituate (now Norwell).

Brief History
The Conihassett Grant was given to four "Merchant Adventurers of London" in 1633 who petitioned the Court who granted more land in 1636. The first church was established by 1634. The area was actually settled by 1628 and a windmill erected by 1636 on the third cliff. The rivers made an excellent location for ship building, and that industry was underway by 1646. This thriving settlement was part 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 Scituate at one time was called Assanippi and Satuit.

Village or section names include Beechwood, Belle House Neck, Clapp's Corner, Egypt, First Cliff, Fourth Cliff, Greenbush, Hatherly, Humarock, Jericho, Minot, Mungo's Corner, North Scituate (formerly Gannett Corner), North Scituate Beach, Pincin Hill, Rivermoor, Sand Hills, Scituate Center, Scituate Harbor, Scituate Neck, Scituate Station, Second Cliff, Shanghai, Sherman's Corner, Sodom, The Glades, Third Cliff, Walnut Tree Hill, and Webster Village.. Border changes Top of Page

Town Histories and Records
Works written on the town include:


 * Samuel Deane, History of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1831 (Boston, 1831), 406 pp.


 * Digital versions at Internet Archive, Google Books, and Ancestry ($). WorldCat (Other Libraries); ;.
 * Family sketches appear on pages 211 to 394 and include the families (some slightly out of order): Adams, Adford, Albeson (Swedish), Alden, Allen, Annable, Badcocke / Babcock (at end of Bs), Bailey, Balch, Bardin, Barker, Barrell, Barstow, Bates, Battles, Beal, Benson, Besbedge / Bisbee, Bird, Bishop, Blackmore, Blackwood, Blossom, Booth, Bourne, Bowker (Swedish), Brooks, Briggs, Bryant, Brown, Burroughs, Burditt, Buck, Bumpus, Calloway, Carlisle, Casely, Chamberlain, chambers, Chandler, Checkett, Chittenden, Chubbuck, Church, Clapp, Clark, Cobb, Cocke / Cook, Cole, Collamore / Collamer, Collier, Colman, Cooper, Copeland, Corlew, Cowen (Scottish), Crocker, Crooker, Cudworth, Curtis, Cushing, Cushman, Dagan, Damon, Davis, Deane, Delano, Delis (French), Dimmick, Dodson, Dogget, Doughty, Dunbar, Dwelley, Edenden, Elmes, Ensign, Ewell, Farrow, Fish, Fitzgerald, Fitzrandell, Floyd, Ford, Foster, Foxwell, Fuller, Gannett, Gardner, Garrett, Gibbs, Gilson, Granger, Gray, Green, Gross, Hall, Hallett, Hamans, Hammond, Hanmer, Howland, Harlow, Hatch, Hatherly, Hayden, Hewes (Welsh), Hewett, Hickes / Hix, Hills, Hinckley, Hoar, Hobart, Holbrook, Holmes, Holloway, Hoskins, House, Hoyt, Humphries (Irish), Hyland, Ingham, Jackson, Jacob, James, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Jordan, Josselyn, Kempton, Kendrick, Kent, King, Lambert, Lapham, Lewis, Lincoln, Linnet, Litchfield, Little, Lombard, Lowell, Magoon / McGoun, Mann, Mansel, Manson, Marble, Mason, Mayo, Mellus, Merritt, Mitchell, Moore, Morton, Mott, Nash, Neal, Neil (Irish), Newell, Nicholson, Nichols, Northy, Oldham, Orcutt, Osgood, Otis, Palmer, Parker, Parris, Peaks, Perkins, Perry, Philips, Pickels, Pierpont, Pidcoke, Pierce, Pinson, Porter, Pratt, Preble, Prince, Pryor, Prouty, Ramsdell, Rance, Randall, Rawlings, Rich, Richards, Robbins, Robinson, Rogers, Rose, Rowse, Ruggles, Russell, Saffin, Savory, Sealis, Sears, Sergeant, Shelley, Shrove, Skiff, Sparrel, Stephson, Stanford, Smith, Soan, Soper, Simson / Symonson, Southworth, Sproat / Sprout, Standlake / Stanley, Star, Stedman, Stetson, Stockbridge, Stodder, Studley, Sutliffe, Sutton, Sylvester, Tart, Taylor, Thompson, Thrift, Tickner, Tilden, Till, Tolman, Torrey, Totman, Tower, Tuell, Turner, Twisden, Utley, Vassal, Vaughan, Vinal, Wade, Wanton, Warden, Warren, Waterman, Webb, Welles, Wermal, Weyborn / Wiborn, Wheaton, Whiston, Whitcomb, White, Wilcome, Willard, Williams, Willcut, Wills, Wilson, Winter, Winslow, Woodfield, Woodworth, Worthlike, Wright, and Young.

Top of Page
 * Lloyd Vernon Briggs, History of Shipbuilding on the North River, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, with Genealogies of the Shipbuilders, and Accounts of the Industries Upon its Tributaries, 1640 to 1872 (Boston, 1889; rep. New York, 1970; rep. Norwell, Mass., 1975), xv, 420 pp. Digital versions online at Internet Archive and Google Books. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Harvey Hunter Pratt, The Early Planters of Scituate: a history of the town of Sciutate, Massachusetts, from its establishment to the end of the Revolutionary War ([Scituate], Mass., 1929), 386 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Mildred Vinton Johnson, "Story of the Micmac Indians of Scituate" in Scituate Historical Society Bulletin, 16 [June 1964]: 4.
 * Barbara Murphy, Scituate: The Coming of Age of a Plymouth Colony Town (S.l., 1985), 154 pp. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, The Seventeenth Century Town Records of Scituate, Massachusetts (Boston, 1999-2001), 3v. [Note: Includes marriage intentions in volume 3, but it is only a note saying there were none for the seventeenth century. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Scituate Militia records, 1841-1880,.
 * "Early Scituate Families", 1623-1640, online at Scituate Historical Society from published sources.
 * Scituate Wikipedia page.

Vital Records
The town's vital records are available in many locations: Original records Published records
 * Scituate Town Clerk's Office 600 Chief Justice Cushing Way Scituate MA 02066 Phone 781-545-8743
 * Microfilm of the originals created by the Family History Library, Scituate vital and town records, 1640-1847, . 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, 1633-1904, on 117 fiche. Part of Massachusetts, Town Vital Collections, 1620–1988 at Ancestry ($); Index
 * Official state copy of vital records starting in 1841: Massachusetts Archives 220 Morrissey Blvd. Boston MA 02125 Phone 617-727-2816 Email [mailto:archives@sec.state.ma.us archives@sec.state.ma.us] Hours and Directions See the online guide for more information.
 * Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, 1909), 2 v., (rep. 1976), 1 v. These volumes were microfilmed by the Family History Library . Digital versions at Internet Archive (vol. 1) and vol. 2), Google Books (vol. 1 and vol. 2), Ancestry ($), in a database at American Ancestors ($), and online transcription. WorldCat (Other Libraries); with digital link.


 * This includes, in part, church records from the First Parish with Rev. John Lothrop's mss. (C.R.1), Second Church of Scituate (C.R.2), Trinitarian Congregational Church (C.R.3), and Society of Friends of Pembroke now with Society at New Bedford (C.R.4). Deaths are included from First Parish Cem., Scituate Harbor (G.R.1), Groveland Cem., North Scituate (G.R.2), Judge Cushing's Cem., Greenbush (G.R.3), Hatch Burying Ground, Greenbush (G.R.4), James Burying Ground, Greenbush (G.R.5), Union Street Cem., Scituate Harbor (G.R.6), Fairview Cem., Scituate Centre (G.R.7), Mt. Hope Cem., North Scituate (G.R.8), Town Burying Ground, Scituate Centre (G.R.9), Catholic Cem., Scituate Harbor (G.R.10), Kilborn Merritt Cem., North Scituate (G.R.11), Clapp Burying Ground (G.R.12), Second Church Cem., Norwell (G.R. 13), South Parish Cem., Norwell (G.R. 14), Church Hill Cem., Norwell (G.R. 15), Stockbridge Cem., Norwell (G.R. 16), Bowker Street Cem., Norwell (G.R. 17), Damon Cem., Norwell (G.R. 18), Washington Street Cem., Norwell (G.R. 19), Quaker Cem., Norwell (G.R. 20), and Otis Cem., Norwell (G.R. 21).

Online records Top of Page
 * "Chronicle of Scituate Vital Records," Appendix 31, pages 554-616, in the Bangs' book (listed above) in Volume 3, is a compilation of vital records from several published sources arranged in chronological order to 1700 - no one source had all the entries.
 * Scituate vital and town records, 1640-1847, . These records are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.

City Directories
Scituate was published in 1894 (under Cohasset), 1915, 1918, 1926.

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 ($) has 1915, 1918, 1926.
 * Boston Public Library has 1894, 1915, 1918, 1926.
 * Family History Library (Salt Lake City) has 1894, 1915, 1918, 1926 on FHL various film records.
 * fold3 ($) has none.
 * Massachusetts State Library has 1894, 1915, 1918, 1926.
 * New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston) ($) has 1894, 1915, 1918, 1926.

Cemeteries
The following is a list of cemeteries in present-day Scituate. Recall that the older cemeteries in Hanover and Norwell were once part of Scituate. For a historical survey that describes location and preservation issues, see the town's Burial Sites Survey from 2007. For a map of all cemeteries, see PlymouthColony. For more details regarding these cemeteries, see the state guide under cemeteries for books on the subject.


 * Clapp Burying Ground, 1774. (A)
 * Cudsworth or Veterans Cemetery, 1823. (A)
 * Judge Cushing's Cemetery, 1757. (A, B)
 * Damon-Brown Tombs, n.d.
 * Fairview Cemetery, 1800. (A, B)
 * Groveland Cemetery, 1720. (A, B)
 * Harrub-Northey Tombs, 1841.
 * Hatch Burying Ground, 1796. (A, B, C)
 * James - Clapp Family Burying Ground, 19th century. (A) Mrs. Thomas W. Thacher, "Gravestone Records from the Private Burial Ground of the James Family, at Greenbush, Scituate, Mass." in Mayflower Descendant, 10 [1908]: 27-28.
 * Lawson or Hammond Tomb, n.d.
 * Men of Kent or Meetinghouse Lane Cemetery, 1624 (A, C) Images of some stones found online. David Hamblin, "Scituate Grave Yard" in New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 9 [1855]: 178 - 179. Stanley W. Smith, "Gravestone Records from the Old Burying Ground on Meeting House Lane, Scituate, Mass." in Mayflower Descendant, 8 [1906]: 115-118. Copy from 1998 online. Nareen and Bob Lake, "Men of Kent Cemetery" 2003 transcript.
 * Merritt Cemetery, 1816. (A)
 * Mount Hope Cemetery, 1786. (A)
 * New St. Mary's Cemetery, 1880.
 * Old St. Mary's Cemetery, n.d. (A)
 * Trinity Park Cemetery, 1993.
 * Union Cemetery, n.d. (A, B)
 * Vinal - Barnes Tomb, n.d.

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to: (A). Vital Records of Scituate, Massachusetts, to the year 1850 (Boston, 1909). [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.


 * First Parish Church (Unitarian) (now First Parish Unitarian Universalist church of Scituate), 1634, records good. Founded by former members of Henry Jacob's church in Southwark, Eng., part of the membership left in 1639 under Rev. John Lothrop and established at church at Barnstable. Amos Otis, "Scituate and Barnstable Church Records" in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 9 [1855]: 279-287 (Scituate portion) noting that in 1768, the records from 1639 to 1707 were missing. This is also republished in Bangs' book (listed above), vol. 3, appendix 30, p. 512-519. George Ernest Bowman, "Records of the First Church of Scituate, Mass." [1707-1791] in Mayflower Descendant, 10 [1908]: 90-96, 175-180, 225-230; 11 [1909]: 44-46, 138-142, 207-209. A typescript of the same copied circa 1930 found at the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass.
 * Second Church of Scituate, 1645 [now in Norwell, see church section there for published records].
 * Society of Friends, South Scituate [now Norwell], 1679, now with the New Bedford Monthly Meeting.
 * Universalist Church, West Scituate, 1772, records good. [merged at some point with the First Parish] Wilford J. Litchfield, "Records of the first Universalist Church in Scituate," members in 1827, New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 62 [1908]: 383.
 * Methodist Episcopal Church, 1821, records fair.
 * Congregational Church (now First Trinitarian Congregational Church of Scituate), 1825, records good. This church claim it was started in 1635, but it is a splitter group off the First Parish Church and established (with its records starting) in 1825.
 * Baptist Church (now First Baptist Church), North Scituate, 1825, records good.
 * St. Mary of the Nativity, 1872.
 * St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 1956.
 * Christ Lutheran Church, 1962.
 * The Harbor United Methodist Church, n.d.

Top of Page

Newspapers

 * Scituate Herald, 1929-1965.
 * South Shore / Scituate Mirror [title varies], 1955-1981.
 * Cohasset Cottager, 1964-1965.
 * South of Boston [title varies], 1974-1975.
 * Scituate Mariner, 1985-present.

Top of Page

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

Scituate Town Library 85 Branch Street Scituate MA 02066 Phone 781-545-8727 Email [mailto:info@scituatetownlibrary.org info@scituatetownlibrary.org]

Scituate Historical Society 43 Cudworth Road PO Box 276 Scituate MA 02066 Phone 781-545-1083 Email [mailto:director@scituatehistoricalsociety.org director@scituatehistoricalsociety.org]