Wareham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States

New England

Massachusetts

Plymouth County

Wareham

Town of Wareham in Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

Guide to Wareham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts ancestry, genealogy and family history, town histories, vital records, city directories, cemetery records and cemeteries, churches, town records, newspapers, maps, and libraries.

Town Information

Description

• Wareham, Massachusetts at Wikipedia

The section called Agawam was purchased from the Native owners in 1665. This area was leased for terms of seven years starting in 1678 bringing settlement to the region in this area of Plymouth Colony Genealogy. That area was joined with the east side of Rochester to form the town of Wareham which placed in Plymouth County. For a brief time, the area 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.

Populated Places

Includes Neighborhoods, Villages, Unincorporated Communities,
Districts, and Census-Designated Places:

Adjacent Towns

Plymouth Co.: Carver | Marion | Plymouth | Rochester Barnstable Co.: Bourne

Town Records

In New England most original vital records of birth, marriage, and death can be found at the town clerk's office

Wareham Town Clerk

54 Marion Road
Wareham, MA 02571
Phone: 508-291-3140
Fax: 508-291-6511
Email: masilva@wareham.ma.us
Website

Vital Records

• Microfilm of the originals created by the Family History Library, Wareham town and vital records, 1739-1876, FHL films 482240–482241, vital records, 1738-1893, FHL film 482235.
  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, 1719-1892, on 41 fiche. Soon to be 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 archives@sec.state.ma.us
  Hours and Directions
  See the online guide for more information.

Published records

• Richard W. Griffith,Abstracts of Vital Records of the Town of Wareham, Massachusetts from Town Books 1 and 2 (Wareham, Mass., 1996), 165 leaves
  These volumes were microfiched by the Family History Library (FHL fiche 6008368).
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.482/W1 V28g.
• Leonard H. Smith, Vital records, Sandwich, Mass. and Wareham, Mass. index an index to the vital records of Sandwich, Mass. to approximately 1775 and Wareham, Mass. to approximately 1814, as published 1899-1934 in the Mayflower Descendant (Clearwater, Fla., 1975), [6], 34, 27 pp.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.4 V2s.
• Town of Wareham, Massachusetts Index of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, 1859-1900 (East Bridgewater, Mass., 1988)., 1 vol.
  

Online records

• Wareham town and vital records, 1739-1876, vital records, 1738-1893, are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.

Resources

For more County and State resources see:

Cemeteries

• Wareham Cemeteries List at FindAGrave
• Wareham Cemeteries at FamilySearch Catalog
• Plymouth County Cemeteries at FamilySearch Catalog
• Plymouth County Cemeteries at FamilySearch Places

The following is a list of cemeteries in present-day Wareham. For more details regarding these cemeteries, see the state guide under cemeteries for books on the subject. There is a manuscript in town listing all gravestones by James M. Lincoln, "All Inscriptions in Wareham Cemeteries to 1904," ms., 1904.

1. Agawam Neck Cemetery, 1685. (A, B, C)
   Transcription of gravestones online.
2. Briggs Lane or Pierce Mill Cemetery, n.d. (C)
3. Centre or Parker Mills Cemetery, 1810. (A, B, C)
   Transcription of gravestones online.
4. Long Neck Cemetery, 1823. (A, B, C)
   Transcription of gravestones online.
5. Nickerson Family Cemetery, 1835. (C)
6. Packard Family Cemetery, 1852. (C)
7. St. Patrick's Cemetery, n.d. (A, C)
8. Tobey-Fearing-Bliss Burial Ground, 1819. (B)

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to:
(A). Richard W. Griffith, Cemetery Gravestone Inscriptions, Wareham, Massachusetts (West Wareham, Mass., 2003), 1 vol.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.482/W1 V39g or film 1391969 Item 1.
(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, Manuscripts Dept.

Church Records

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. Congregational Church (now First Congregational Church of Wareham), 1739, records good.
   Records of the First Congregational Church in Wareham, 1739-1850, FHL film 482239 Item 3.
   Leonard H. Smith Jr., Records of the First Church of Wareham, Mass., 1739-1891 (Clearwater, Fla., [1974]), 150 leaves [reprint with index], FHL book 974.482/W1 K2s.
2. First Christian Church, 1831-1848. [Also called The Baptist Society, their first and only minister left for Rhode Island in 1837 and they have never had another settled minister.]
   Records of the First Christian Church in Wareham, 1831-1848, photocopy of originals, FHL Q book 974.482/W1 K2f or film 1598371 Item 17.
3. Methodist Episcopal Church, 1843, records good.
4. St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, 1865, no condition given.
5. Good Shepherd Protestant Episcopal Church (now Church of the Good Shepherd), 1883, no condition given.
   Church of the Good Shepherd Church records, 1882-1924 (Episcopal), FHL film 1290180 Items 5-6.
6. Community of Christ, n.d.
7. Emmaunuel A Church of the Nazarene, n.d.
8. Evangelical Zion Church, n.d.
9. Onset Foursquare Church, n.d.
10. Tabernacle of Praise, n.d.
11. Vineyard Crossroads, A Community Church, n.d.

City Directories

Wareham was published in 1903/4, 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1924/5, 1926, 1928/9, 1935.

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:

• Ancestry ($) has 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1924/5, 1928/9.
• Boston Public Library has 1903-1929, 1935.
• Family History Library (Salt Lake City) has 1903/4, 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1924/5, 1928/9 on FHL various film records.
• fold3 ($) has none.
• Massachusetts State Library has 1903/4, 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1924/5.
• New England Historic Genealogical Society (Boston) ($) has 1907, 1910/1, 1916, 1919, 1928/9.

Local Histories

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

Associated names

Wareham at one time was called Agawam Plantation, Cowesit, and Quansit.

Village or section names include Agawam, Center Village, Barney's Point, Cohasset Narrows, East Wareham, Fearing's Hill, Great Neck, Hamilton Beach, Indian Neck, Kenney Mills, Locke Bog, Long Neck, Narrow's Village, Oakdale, Onset, Onset Bay, Onset Junction, Parker Mills, Parkwood Beach, Parlowtown, Pinehurst Beach, Point Independence, South Wareham, Swift's Beach, Tempest Knob Station, Tihonet, Tremont, Wareham Center, Waters Bog, West End, West Wareham, and Yellow Town.

Border changes

Dates	Events
10 July 1739	Established from part of Plymouth called Agawam Plantation and part of Rochester. [Prov. Laws, 2: 992]
20 Jan. 1827	Parts of Carver and Plymouth known as Tihonet annexed.
18 Feb. 1859	Border between Wareham and Marion established.
20 Apr. 1864	Border between Wareham and Rochester established.
13 Feb. 1866	Border between Wareham and Marion established.
15 Feb. 1866 3 June 1887	Border between Wareham and Rochester established.
14 Apr. 1897	Border between Wareham and Bourne established.
23 Apr. 1897	Border between Wareham and Marion established.
16 May 1901	Border between Wareham and Carver established.
1 Mar. 1909	Border between Wareham and Marion established.
12 June 1939	Border between Wareham and Rochester established. Border between Wareham and Marion established.

Works written on the town include:

• N. W. Everett, "History of Wareham" in D. Hamilton Hurd, ed., History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts ... (Philadelphia, 1884).
  Digital version at Internet Archive.
  
• William Root Bliss, "The Agawame Plantation", in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 41 [1887]: 194-201.
  
• M. H. Leonard, "Old Rochester and Her Daughter Towns" in New England Magazine, New Ser., 20 [1899]: 612-635.
  
• Charles L. Bates, A Brief History of the Town of Wareham (Wareham, Mass., 1939), 36 pp.
  
• Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts: being a History of these Towns and also in part of Marion and a portion of Wareham ([Mattapoisett, Mass.], 3rd ed., 1950), 426 pp.
  Digital versions of the 1907 edition at Internet Archive and Google Books
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.482 H2m (1907 ed. only); FHL fiche 6081392 (1907 ed. only).
• Daisy Washburn Lovell, Glimpses of Early Wareham (Wareham, Mass., 1970), 139 pp.
  WorldCat (Other Libraries); FHL book 974.482/W1 H2L.
• Wareham Wikipedia page.

Maps

This selection incudes town, county, state, and historical maps

Military

Some Records are Searchable by Town

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

For more Revolutionary War Military Records see:

• Massachusetts Military Records - Revolutionary War, 1775-1783
• United States Military Records - Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

Civil War, 1861-1865

For more Civil War Military Records see:

• Massachusetts Military Records - Civil War, 1861-1865
• United States Military Records - Civil War, 1861-1865

World War I, 1917-1918

For more World War I Military Records see:

• Massachusetts Military Records - World War I, 1917-1918
• United States Military Records - World War I, 1917-1918

World War II, 1941-1945

For more World War II Military Records see:

• Massachusetts Military Records - World War II, 1941-1945
• United States Military Records - World War II, 1941-1945

Newspapers

1. Wareham Courier, 1905-1918, 1931-2006.

Research Facilities

Libraries

Wareham Free Library
59 Marion Road
Wareham MA 02571
Phone 508-295-2343

Family History Centers & Affiliate Libraries

Family History Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local Family History Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
• FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a family history center.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

Societies

Wareham Historical Society
495 Main Street
PO Box 211
Wareham MA 02558
Phone 508-295-6839
Email info@dyerlibrary.org

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