Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States Massachusetts  Suffolk County  Boston

Boundary Changes
17 September 1630: First settled by the Puritans from England as part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (not to be confused with the Plymouth Colony founded by the Pilgrims (Separatists). 23 February 1822: Boston is incorporated as a city. 1 June 1867: City of Roxbury annexed to Boston. 4 June 1867: Town of Dorchester annexed to Boston. 14 May 1873: City of Charlestown annexed to Boston. 21 May 1873: Town of Brighton annexed to Boston. 29 May 1873: Town of West Roxbury annexed to Boston. 24 May 1911: Town of Hyde Park annexed to Boston.

Wikipedia

Geographic location: Google

City Hall
Boston City Hall One City Hall Square Boston, MA 02201

Almanacs

 * Dickinson, S.N. The Boston Almanac for the Year 1842. Boston: Thomas Groom &amp; Co., 1842. A digital copy of this book is available online at Internet Archive.


 * Dickinson, S.N. The Boston Almanac for the Year 1844. Boston: Thomas Groom &amp; Co., 1844. A digital copy of this book is available online at Internet Archive.


 * Coolidge, George. The Boston Almanac for the Year 1850. Boston: B.B. Mussey &amp; Co. and Thomas Groom, 1850. A digital copy of this book is available online at Internet Archive.


 * The Boston Almanac and Business Directory for the Year 1872. Boston: Sampson, Davenport &amp; Co., 1872. A digital copy of this book is available online at Internet Archive


 * The Boston Almanac and Business Directory for the Year 1879. Boston: Sampson, Davenport &amp; Co., 1878. A digital copy of this book is available online at Internet Archive

Biography
Also see: Genealogy, History

Cemeteries

 * Central Burying Ground, Boston BillionGraves
 * Granary Burying Ground, Boston BillionGraves
 * Kings Chapel Burying Ground, Boston BillionGraves

Directories

 * Fold3.com ($) has 116 years of Boston City Directories spanning 1789-1926 available online.
 * DistantCousin.com users can access the following Boston city directories: 1800, 1860, and 1904.
 * Internet Archive has made the following Boston city directories available online:


 * 1789, 1805,1825, 1831, 1834, 1835, 1836, 1848-1849, 1849, 1852, 1855, 1856, 1858, 1862, 1879, 1916 pt.1, 1916 pt. 2, 1922, 1955 (A-K), 1955 (L-Z),1956 (A-K), 1956 (L-Z), 1957 (A-K), 1957 (L-Z), 1958 (A-K), 1958 (L-Z), 1959 (A-K), 1959 (L-Z), 1960 (A-K), 1960 (L-Z),1961 (A-K), 1961 (L-Z), 1962, 1962 (L-Z), 1963 (A-K), 1963 (L-Z), 1964, 1964 (L-Z), 1965, 1966, 1967 (A-K), 1967 (L-Z), 1968 (A-K), 1968 (L-Z), 1969 (A-K), 1969 (L-Z), 1970 (A-K), 1970 (L-Z), 1971 (A-K), 1971 (L-Z), 1972, 1972 (L-Z), 1973 (A-K), 1973 (L-Z), 1974-1975 (A-K), 1974-1975 (L-Z)


 * Google Books has the following Boston city directories available online:


 * 1832, 1848-1849, 1851, 1852, 1862, 1871, 1873, 1877, 1891, 1894, 1918, 1921,

Emigration and immigration
A wiki article describing an online collection is found at:

Massachusetts, Boston Passenger Lists (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Guides

 * Lainhart, Ann S. A Researcher’s Guide to Boston. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2003. (FHL book 974.461 D27L)
 * Lainhart, Ann S. “Research in Boston through the Centuries.” New England Ancestors 2 (Spring 2001): 11-17.
 * Morton, Sunny McClellan. "Boston: City Guide." Family Tree Magazine 12 (March 2011): 33-36.

History
Also see: Biography, Genealogy

Maps
The Norman B Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library has 200,000 historic maps and 5,000 atlases documenting the evolution. The geographical focus of these maps, atlases, and globes is the World, Europe, and America, with particular attention to New England, Massachusetts, and Boston from the 15th century to the present day.

Newspapers

 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line including Boston City newspapers. Some libraries including the Boston Public Library provide free access to this database.
 * Boston Globe and theBoston Herald obituaries 1953-2010 available from the Boston Public Library.

Vital records

 * Dunkle, Robert J. and Ann S. Lainhart. Deaths in Boston 1700 to 1799. 2 Vols. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, c1999. FHL Book 974.461 V2dr v.1-2.

Websites

 * Family History Library Catalog for the City of Boston