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

Contents

Brief History

There was an attempted settlement at Jones River in 1620 and again in 1635. Governor Bradford had his residence at Stony Brook in Plymouth Colony. The "North End" of Plymouth was set off as a precinct in 1717 and a town in 1726. 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. When incorporated, the town was part of Plymouth County where it remains.

Historical Data

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

Associated names

Hanson once was called Jones River Parish and Plymouth North Precinct.

Village or section names include Blackwater, Crossman Pond, Holmes Mill Pond, Indian Pond Village, Kingston Centre, Plympton Depot, Reed's Pond, Rocky Nook, Seaside, Silver Lake, Smith's Lane, Stony Brook, The Hill, and Wapping.

Border changes
Dates Events
16 June 1726 Established as a town from the "North Precinct" or Jones River Parish of Plymouth that previously also included parts of Duxbury, Pembroke, and Plympton. [Prov. Laws, 2: 387].
14 Apr. 1857 Part of Duxbury annexed.
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Town Histories

Works written on the town include:

There is a section called "Cast of Characters" that have a few sentences about the earliest settlers which include: Armstrong, Barnes, Billington, Bradford, Brewster, Briggs, Brown, Bryant, Chauncy, Chipman, Clarke, Cobb, Combe, Cooke), Cotton, Croade) Curtis, Cushman, Doane, Drew, Dunham, Eaton, Everson, Faunce, Fish, Foster, Fuller, Gray, Hall, Holmes, Hopkins, Howland, Lee, Little, Loring, Mitchell, Moore/More, Nelson, Paddy, Peirce/Pierce/Pearcse/Pearce, Phinney, Pratt, Prence/Prince, Raynor, Ring, Rogers, Samson, Souther, Stetson, Sturtevant, Washburn, West, Willet, Winslow, Winter, and Wright.
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Vital Records

The town's vital records are available in many locations:
Barnstable CountyBristol CountyPlymouth CountyNorfolk CountySuffolk CountyFalmouthMashpeeSandwichBourneFairhavenAchushnetNew BedfordDartmouthWestportFall RiverFreetownBerkleyTauntonRaynhamEastonStoughtonAvonHolbrookCantonRandolphWeymouthCohassetBraintreeQuincyMiltonBostonHullHinghamScituateNorwellRocklandAbingtonBrocktonWest BridgewaterWhitmanHanoverMarshfieldDuxburyPembrokeHansonEast BridgewaterBridgewaterHalifaxPlymptonKingstonPlymouthCarverMiddleboroughLakevilleRochesterWarehamMarionMattapoisett
Town of Kingston in Plymouth County, Massachusetts.


Original records
Published records
This includes, in part, church records from the First Church of Kingston [Unitarian] (C.R.1) and the Second Congregational Church (C.R.2). Deaths are included from the Old Burying Ground (G.R.1) and Evergreen Cem. (G.R.2).
  • Thomas Bradford Drew, "Kingston, Mass., Records. Copied from the first volume of births, marriages and deaths ..." in The Genealogical Advertiser, 2 [1899]: 1-9, 39-44, 119-126; 3 [1900]: 22-26, 77-80; 4 [1901]: 14-18, 68-73.
Online records
  • Kingston town and vital records, ca. 1695-1885, 1843-1905, some early intentions, v. 1, are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.
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City Directories

Kingston was published in 1890, 1898-1899, 1903, 1907, 1911, 1915, 1924, 1932.

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

The following is a list of cemeteries in present-day Kingston. 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. Evergreen Cemetery, 1854. (A, C)
  2. Old Burying Ground, 1717. (A, B, C, D)
  3. Our Lady of Divine Providence Cemetery, 1962.
  4. St. Joseph's Cemetery, n.d.

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to:
(A). Vital Records of Kingston, 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.
(C). New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Mass., Manuscripts Dept.
(D). Theodore S. Lazell, "Death Records from the Ancient Burial Ground at Kingston, Mass., from a manuscript copy made in 1859 by the late Dr. Thomas Bradford Drew in the Mayflower Descendant, 7 [1905]: 20-28, 82-90, 167-172, 221-225 [Alphabetical list].
Digital versions of reprint at Internet Archive and Ancestry ($).
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL film 1033700 Item 10; catalog digital link.
Unfinished verbatim transcription in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 10 [1856]: 55-56.
Digital version at PlymouthColony.net

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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.

  1. First Congregational Parish (Unitarian, now First Parish Church), 1717, records prior to 1784 are imperfect.
    Transcript of original records, v. 1-2, 1720, ca. 1880, FHL film 910370
  2. Baptist Church, 1805, records good.
  3. Mayflower Congregational Church, 1828, records good.
  4. St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, Mission of Plymouth, 1873, Parish, 1908.
  5. Church of Christ, n.d.
  6. St. Mark's Orthodox Church, n.d.
  7. The Vineyard, A Community Church, 1985.
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Newspapers

  1. Kingston News, 1912.
  2. Kingston Sun, 1927-1930.
  3. Kingston Voice (title varied), 1976-1981.
  4. Kingston Reporter, 1984-present.
  5. Kingston Observer, 1987-1991.
  6. Kingston Independent Voice (title varied), 1978-present.
  7. Kingston Mariner, 1996-present.
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Libraries and Historical Societies

The following is a list of research facilities in town:

Kingston Public Library
6 Green Street
Kingston MA 02364
Phone 781-585-0517
Email kilib@kingstonpubliclibrary.org

The Jones River Village Historical Society
PO Box 22
Kingston MA 02364
Phone 781-585-6300

References

  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: Carver | Duxbury | Pembroke | Plymouth | Plympton

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Towns in Plymouth County in Massachusetts articles
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  • This page was last modified on 19 November 2012, at 18:38.
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