Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Genealogy

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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[edit | edit source]

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

Brief History[edit | edit source]

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 Genealogy. 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 Genealogy from 1686 to 1689. The town is still in Plymouth County, though was in limbo, until the "Colony" was merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony Genealogy in 1691 that became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Historical Data[edit | edit source]

The basic data is from the "Historical Data" publication series[1] 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
Dates Events
7 June 1637 "... Ducksburrow shall become a towneship ..." [Ply. Col. Rec. 1: 62]
2 Mar. 1641 Border established.
3 June 1656 The part called "Duxburrow New Plantation" set off as new town of Bridgewater.
2 Mar. 1658 "Namassekeesett" annexed.
5 Mar. 1661 Land granted to Duxbury.
5 July 1670 Border between Duxbury and the "Major's Purchase" established.
5 June 1678 Border established.
23 Feb. 1683 Border between Duxbury and Marshfield established.
21 Mar. 1712 Mattakeeset set off as part of new town of Pembroke.
16 June 1726 Part included in the new town of Kingston.
14 June 1813 Border between Duxbury and Marshfield established.
14 Apr. 1857 Part annexed to Kingston.
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Town Histories[edit | edit source]

Go to Archive.org to find published materials for this town.

Works written on the town include:
Barnstable CountyBristol CountyPlymouth CountyNorfolk CountySuffolk CountyFalmouthMashpeeSandwichBourneFairhavenAchushnetNew BedfordDartmouthWestportFall RiverFreetownBerkleyTauntonRaynhamEastonStoughtonAvonHolbrookCantonRandolphWeymouthCohassetBraintreeQuincyMiltonBostonHullHinghamScituateNorwellRocklandAbingtonBrocktonWest BridgewaterWhitmanHanoverMarshfieldDuxburyPembrokeHansonEast BridgewaterBridgewaterHalifaxPlymptonKingstonPlymouthCarverMiddleboroughLakevilleRochesterWarehamMarionMattapoisett
Town of Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.


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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Vital Records[edit | edit source]

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
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
  • 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.
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City Directories[edit | edit source]

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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Cemeteries[edit | edit source]

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.

  1. Ashdod Cemetery, 1811. (A, B)
  2. Cemetery behind old Methodist Church [now (1911) Episcopal Church], n.d. (A, B)
  3. Crooked Lane / Dingley Cemetery, 18th Century. (A, B)
  4. First Church, n.d. (B)
  5. Large Cemetery, n.d. (A)
  6. Old Burying Ground / Standish Cemetery, 17th Century. (A, B)
  7. Orthodox Church Cemetery, South Duxbury, n.d.
  8. Unitarian Church Cemetery, 1788. (B)
  9. 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); FHL book 974.4 V3.

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Churches[edit | edit source]

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.

  1. First Unitarian Church (now First Parish Church), 1632, records lost before 1739.
  2. Society of Friends, 1702 [attached to the Pembroke Monthly Meeting, and by 1876 to the New Bedford Monthly Meeting].
  3. Pilgrim [Congregational] Church (now Pilgrim Church of Duxbury) [United Church of Christ], 1843, no condition given.
  4. Methodist Episcopal Church, 1868, no condition given
  5. Christian Science Church, n.d.
  6. First Baptist Church of Duxbury, n.d.
  7. High Street United Methodist Church, n.d.
  8. Holy Family Parish [Catholic], n.d.
  9. St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church, n.d.
  10. St. Paul's Church of the Nazarene, n.d.
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Military Records[edit | edit source]

Newspapers[edit | edit source]

  1. Duxbury Clipper, 1969-present.
  2. Duxbury Reporter, 1987-present.
  3. Duxbury Mariner, 1996-present.
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Libraries and Historical Societies[edit | edit source]

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 & Historical Society
479 Washington Street
Duxbury MA 02331
Phone 781-934-6106
Email: info@duxburyhistory.org

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

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ William Francis Galvin, Historical Data Relating to Counties, Cities and Towns in Massachusetts (Boston, new ed., 1997), 43. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.4 H2h 1997
Adjacent towns: Plymouth Co: Kingston | Marshfield | Pembroke | Plymouth

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Towns in Plymouth County in Massachusetts, United States Genealogy articles
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