Mendon, Worcester County, Massachusetts Genealogy

Brief History
In the mid 1600's a group of inhabitants from Braintree and Weymouth petitioned the General Court (Massachusetts' legislative body) for permission to settle a new town. On May 28, 1659 the General Court granted the petitioners permission to seek out a place and present their desires to the General Court along with the names of those who were to do the work. In 1660, the group was granted a plantation of 8 miles square to begin their society. (see more of the article at Town Hall's site) Mendon is historically a rural, agrarian community located in the Blackstone Valley. Mendon is the second oldest town in Worcester County, and the community has one of the best-preserved Federal/Greek Revival hilltop village centers in the state, adjacent to large tracts of open space. Much of the remaining town is undeveloped land, and there is also a large lake of over 90 acres. Most of the town's streams and rivers are part of the Blackstone River's drainage basin. At a community level, the above atmosphere acts as a backdrop for large, regional activities like the annual Country Fair which brought 14,000 visitors, the Strawberry Festival which drew 4,000 participants and the 325th Anniversary Celebration in 1992 which involved the whole town. (Town of Mendon)
 * Go to Archive.org to find published materials for this town

Town Clerk
The town clerk is responsible for these records, and so most originals can be found at the town clerk's office Town Hall 20 Main Street Mendon, MA Town Hall Town Clerk 20 Main St, PO Box 54 Mendon, MA 01756 Phone: 508-473-1085 Fax: 508-478-8241 Email: [mailto:townclerk@mendonma.gov townclerk@mendonma.gov] Website

Vital Records

 * Vital Records of Mendon, Massachusetts to the end of the Year 1850. 1920. By, Thomas W Baldwin, A.B., Member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Boston, Mass.: Wright & Potter Printing Company. Online at: Internet Archives

Town Reports
The town of Mendon kept annual town reports. These reports often contained birth, marriage, and death information. Below is a list of years when Mendon 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.)

Adjacent Towns
Worcester Co.:  Blackstone | Hopedale | Millville | Northbridge | Upton | Uxbridge | Norfolk Co.:  Bellingham

Biographies

 * of the ministers of the First Church, Mendon, Massachusetts, up to 1897 George Faber Clark, microreproduction of manuscript

Cemeteries

 * Friends Cemetery
 * USGS GNIS
 * Hometown Locator
 * Google map
 * George Cemetery
 * Old Cemetery

Centennial Celebrations, etc.

 * in commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Mendon, Massachusetts. Printed by C. Hamilton, Palladium Office, 1868, Worcester, Massachusetts 

Church Records

 * of North Mendon, 1828-1859
 * in Mendon, 1785-1866
 * , Monthly meeting records, 1783-1898, covers Mendon and surrounding towns and villages

Civil Registration

 * , from 1659 to 1800, compiled by John G. Metcalf, M.D

Compiled Genealogies

 * , not published, manuscript on microfilm
 * , pub. 2004
 *  : newsletter of the Taft Family Association

Maps

 * satellite Google map for Mendon
 * USGS GNIS map for Mendon
 * Hometown Locator map for Mendon

Family Reunions

 * National Aldrich Association holds its annual reunion in or very near Mendon. The descendants of George Aldrich, one of the earliest settlers meets on 3rd Saturday of July. Once in a while the reunion will be out of state (occurred only twice in more than 35 years of the association.) Notable descendants include William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States, Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States, Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich, the U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (1881-1911), Robert Alphonso Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio, Chester Hardy Aldrich, 19th Governor of Nebraska, plus a host of state and national politicans.