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Hanover, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Genealogy

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This is a historical and genealogical guide to the town of Hanover. You will find help with town histories, vital records, city directories, cemetery records and cemeteries, churches, town records, newspapers, maps, and libraries.

Town Clerk[edit | edit source]

550 Hanover Street
Hanover, MA 02339
Phone: 781-826-5000 x 1079
Fax: 781-826-5239
Email: catherine.harderbernier@hanover-ma.gov
Website

Brief History[edit | edit source]

The area of Hanover was first settled in 1649 when it was part of Scituate in Plymouth Colony. The area was placed in Plymouth County when counties were formed in 1685. For a brief time, the area was part of the Dominion of New England from 1686 to 1689. The area 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. The area was set off from Scituate and some parts from Abington in 1727.

Historical Data[edit | edit source]

The basic data is from the "Historical Data" publication series[1] with additions from various sources.

Associated names

Village or section names include Assinippi, Curtis Crossing, Drinkwater, Hanover Center, Hanover Four Corners, Mann's Corner, North Hanover, South Hanover, West Hanover, and Winslow's Crossing.

Border changes
Dates Events
14 June 1727 Established as a new town from parts of Abington and mostly from Scituate. [Prov. Laws, 2: 429]
6 Mar. 1835 Border between Hanover and Pembroke established.
15 May 1857 Border between Hanover and South Scituate (now Norwell) established.
11 Feb. 1878 Border between Hanover and South Scituate (now Norwell) established and part of each town annexed to the other town.
23 Mar. 1878 Border between Hanover and Rockland established and part of each town annexed to the other town.
23 Apr. 1885 Border between Hanover and Pembroke established.
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Town Histories[edit | edit source]

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


  • John Stetson Barry, A Historical Sketch of the Town of Hanover, Mass., with Family Genealogies (Boston, 1853), v, 448.
Digital versions at Internet Archive, Google Books, and on Ancestry ($).
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.482/H3 H2b or film 1425589 Item 2.
The family sketches include the families: Bailey, Baldwin, Barrell, Barry, Barstow, Bates, Beal, Benner, Binney, Blanchard, Bonney, Bowker, Briggs, Brook, Burgess, Cary, Chaddock, Chamberlain, Chandler, Chapman, Church, Clark, Corthell, Crooker, Curtis, Cushing, Cutler, Damon, Darling, Davis, Dawes, Delano, Dill, Doten, Donnell, Dunbar, Duncan, Dwelley, Dyer, Eells, Ellis, Estes, Farnham/Farnum, Foster, Gardner, Garrett, Goodrich, Groce/Gross, Gurney, Hall, Hammond, Harding, Henderson, Hersey, Hollis, Holmes, House, Howland, Jacobs, Josselyn/Joslin, Killam, Lindsey, Litchfield, Little, Magoun, Mann, McLauthlin, Morse, Munroe, Nash, Percival, Perkins, Perry, Peterson, Phillips, Pocorny, Pool, Pratt, Prouty, Puffer, Ramsdell, Randall, Reed, Rice, Richards, Ripley, Robbins, Rogers, Rose, Russell, Salmond, Sampson/Samson, Simmons, Slason, Smith, Soper, Soule, sprague, Stetson, Stockbridge, Stoddard, Studley, Sturtevant, Sylvester, Taylor, Thayer, Thomas, Thompson, Torrey, Tower, Tubbs, Turner, Vinal, Vining, Wade, Wardrobe, White, Whitwell, Whiton/Whiting, Wilder, Winslow, Wolcott, Wood, Woodman, and Wright.
  • Jedediah Dwelley and John F. Simmons, History of the Town of Hanover, Massachusetts, with Family Genealogies ([Hanover, Mass.], 1910, 291, 474 pp.
Digital version at Internet Archive.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.482/H3 H2d or fiche 6048973 (with digital link).
The family sketches found in the second half of the book include the families: Adams, Ahearn, Alger, Allen, Anderson, Andrews, Appleford, Arnold, Bacon, Bagan, Bailey, Baker, Baldwin, Balleaster, Banister, Banks, Barker, Barrell, Barry, Barstow, Bass, Bates, Beal, Benner, Binney, Bisbee, Bishop, Blanchard, Bonney, Bourne, Bowers, Bowker, Bray, Breck, Brewster, Briggs, Brooks, Brooks, Brouthers, Brown, Bruce, Bryant, Buffum, Burbank, Burgess, Burpee, Burrell, Butler, Callaghan, Campbell, Carey, Cashman, Chaddock, Chamberlain, Chapman, Cheney, Christie, Chubbuck, Church, Churchill, Clapp, Clark, Cobbett, Cole, Collingwood, Condon, Cook, Cooley, Cooper, Corbin, Corlew, Corthell, Crane, Crocker, Crook, Crosby, Cross, Cudworth, Cummings, Curtis, Cushing, Cushman, Cutler, Dagan, Dame, Damon, Darling, Davenport, Davis, Dawes, Day, Deane, Delay, Dillingham, Disbrow, Donnell, Donnelly, Donovan, Dowden, Downes, Downing, Drew, dunbar, Duncan, Dwelley, Dyer, Ednie, Eells, Elliot, Ellis, Ernest, Estes, Everett, Everson, Farnham/Farnum, Farrar, Farrell, Finney, Fish, Fisher, Fitzgerald, Flavell, Flynn, Ford, Forsythe, Foster, Freeman, French, Fuller, Gallagher, Gannett, Gardner, Gates, Gay, Gerrish, Gibson, Gilman, Gleason, Gooch, Goodrich, Gray, Green, Griffin, Grose, Gurney, Guth, Hackett, Hall, Hamilton, Hammond, Handy, Haney, Hansen/Hanson, Hardy, Harlow, Harnden, Harraden, Harris, Harvey, Hatch, Havens, Hayes, Hawward, Head, Henderson, Henry, Hersey, Hicks, Hill, Hinckley, Hines, Hoban, Hobill, Holbrook, Hollis, Holmes, House, Howard, Howes, Howland, Hunt, Hurley, Hussey, Inglis, Iris, Jacobs, Jewett, Johnson, Jones, Josselyn, Joyce, Kane, Keene, Keith, Kenney, Kiley, Killam, Kingman, Kirby, Knight, Lafountain, Lambert, Langdon, Lantz, Lapham, Larkum, Leavitt, Leggett, Leonard, Letourneaux, Levings, Lindsey/Lindsay, Litchfield, Little, Lovice, Lowell, Lucas, Luther, MacDonald, MacMillan, Maglathlin, Magoun, Mann, Marsh, Massey, McClary, McCloskey, McDonough, McDougal, McEnroe, McLauthlin, McLean, McNayr, Merrill, Millet, Morehardt, Morel, Morse, Mullin, Munroe, Murphy, Nash, Nelson, Nichols, Nielson, Niles, Oakman, O'Connell, Oldham, Olson, Orcutt, Overton, Packard, Paine, Plamer, Pardy, Parkinson, Paulding, Paxton, Peaslee, Percival, Perkins, Perry, Peterson, Phillips, Phinney, Pinson, Pocorny, Poole, Pope, Power, Pratt, Prentice, Priest, Prince, Prouty, Puffer, Purchase, Putnam, Ramsdell/Ramsden, Randall, Reed, Richardson, Richmond, Ridgeway, Ripley, Robbins, Robinson, Rogers, Rome, Rose, Rothmund, Russell, Ryder, Salmond, Sampson/Samson, Schofield, Scholz, Scott, Shean, Shepherd, Sherman, Sides, Simmons, Slade, Slatcher, Smith, Snell, Soper, Soule, Spaulding, Spear, Spiller, Sprague, Sproul, Standish, Stearns, Stetson, Stockbridge, Stoddard, Stone, Struthers, Studley, Sturtevant, Sutherland, Sweeney, Sylvester, Taylor, Thayer, Thomas, Thompson, Tilden, Tindale, Tobey, Todd, Tolman, Torrey, Totman, Tower, Tribble, Tribou, Tripp, Tubbs, Tuck, Tucker, Turner, Vail, Ventres, Vinal, Vining, Wade, Walker, Wardrobe, Warner, Waterman, White, Whiting, Whitman, Whitmarsh, Whittaker, Whyman, Wild, Wilder, Williams, Willis, Wing, Winslow, Winsor, Witt, Wolcott, Wood, Woodman, Wright, and Young.
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Vital Records[edit | edit source]

The town's vital records are available in many locations:

Original records
Published records
Online records
  • Hanover town and vital records, 1712-1779, are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.
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City Directories[edit | edit source]

Hanover was published in 1892, 1898, 1902, 1904, 1911/2, 1919 (usually under Rockland).

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 Hanover. For location of cemeteries, see PlymouthColony website. For more details regarding these cemeteries, see the state guide under cemeteries for books on the subject.

  1. Assinippi Cemetery, 1789. (A)
  2. Darling Cemetery, 1829.
  3. Hanover Center Cemetery, 1727. (A, B)
  4. Hatch Family Cemetery, 18th Century. [Note: Plowed up in the 19th century.]
  5. Hobart Cemetery, 1793. (A)
  6. Union Cemetery, 1794.

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to:
(A). Charles M. Thatcher, Old Cemeteries of Southeastern Massachusetts (Middleborough, Mass., 1995). WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.4 V3.
(B). L. Vernon Briggs, ed.,History and Records of the First Congregational Church, Hanover, Mass., 1727-1865, and Inscriptions from the Headstones and Tombs in the Cemetery at Centre Hanover, Mass., 1727-1894, being volume I of the Church and Cemetery Records of Hanover, Mass. (Boston, 1895), vi, 316 pp. Internet Archive and Google Books.

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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 Congregational Church of Hanover [United Church of Christ], 1728, records good.
    L. Vernon Briggs, ed.,History and Records of the First Congregational Church, Hanover, Mass., 1727-1865, and Inscriptions from the Headstones and Tombs in the Cemetery at Centre Hanover, Mass., 1727-1894, being volume I of the Church and Cemetery Records of Hanover, Mass. (Boston, 1895), vi, 316 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive and Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); 974.482/H3 K2b or film 1425526 Item 5.
  2. St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church (now called St. Andrew's Episcopal Church), 1780, no condition given. [Note: Church in Scituate from 1731 to 1811.]
    L. Vernon Briggs, ed., History and Records of St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Scituate, Mass., 1725-181, of Hanover, Mass., 1811-1903, and other items of historical interest, being Volume II of the church and cemetery records of Hanover, Mass. ([Boston], 1904), ix, 188 pp.
    Digital version at Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.482/H3 K2bL.
  3. Baptist Church, 1806, records good.
  4. Methodist Episcopal Church, 1850, no condition given.
  5. Second Congregational Church, Four Corners, 1854, records good.
  6. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church (now called St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Church), n.d., no condition given.
  7. Lutheran Church of the Cross, 1961.
  8. Fellowship Baptist Church, 1984.
  9. Coastal Church, n.d.
  10. Living Hope Foursquare Church, n.d.
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Newspapers[edit | edit source]

  1. Hanover Branch and Norwell News, 1964-1965-present.
  2. Hanover Mariner, 1983-present.
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Libraries and Historical Societies[edit | edit source]

The following is a list of research facilities in town:

John Curtis Free Library
534 Hanover Street
Hanover MA 02339
Phone 781-826-2972

Hanover Historical Society
Box 156
Hanover MA 02339

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ William Francis Galvin, Historical Data Relating to Counties, Cities and Towns in Massachusetts (Boston, new ed., 1997), 56. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.4 H2h 1997

Adjacent towns: Plymouth Co: Hanson | Norwell | Pembroke | Rockland

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Towns in Plymouth County in Massachusetts articles
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