Suffolk County, Massachusetts Genealogy

United States Massachusetts  Suffolk County 

Brief History
Suffolk County was one of the four original counties when Massachusetts Bay Colony created counties in 1643 and had an undefined western border. It established and claimed as far west as Woodstock, Connecticut. Initially, the county included Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester, Dedham, Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, and Nantasket [now Hull]. In 1671, Mendon was added from Middlesex. For a brief time, the county was part of the Dominion of New England from 1686 to 1689. The county was eventually became part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. All towns were lost to the creation of Norfolk County to the south. What remained were Boston and Chelsea. Hingham and Hull protested and thus remained in Suffolk County until they were transferred to Plymouth County in 1803. The city of Boston started annexing towns back: Roxbury (1868), Dorchester (1870), Brighton (1874), Charlestown (1874), West Roxbury (1874), and Hyde Park (1912). The county government was abolished in 1999, but its former jurisdiction is used for state offices as a district.

Historical Data
The basic data is from the historical county boundary series with additions from various sources.

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Towns and Cities
The following is a list of present-day towns and cities in the county that are linked to their own individual pages. There you will find a list of other names used for the town or city and a list of villages and sections of the town or city. There will be a future master list found from the state page. Boston (1630) - Chelsea (1739) - Revere (1846) - Winthrop (1852) Boston needed to grow its tax base, so over the years, various towns were annexed to Boston. These towns had a vibrant history and their own set of records before they became part of Boston and thus Suffolk County. These towns are: Roxbury (1630-1868) Dorchester (1630-1870) Brighton (1807-1874) Charlestown (1630-1874) West Roxbury (1851-1874) Hyde Park (1868-1912)

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County Histories
Works written on the town include:

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 * B. B. Edwards, "Complete List of the Congregational and Presbyterian Ministers in Suffolk Co." in American Quarterly Register, 7 [1834]: 28-30. Digital version at Google books.
 * Alden Bradford, "Juridical Statistics for the County of Suffolk viz. Judge of Superior Court of Judicature and of Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts; and Barristers, Counsellors, and Attorneys, with brief notices of those who have deceased or retired from public life" in American Quarterly Register, 13 [1840-1841]: 417-432. Includes birth, education, bar admission, associates, and death. Digital version at Google books.
 * N. I. Bowditch, Suffolk Surnames (Boston, 3rd ed., 1861), xxv, 757 pp. Digital version at Internet Archive and Google books. WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Justin Winsor, The Memorial History of Boston, Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880 (Boston, 1880-1883), 4v. v. 1 - The early and colonial periods; v. 2 - The provincial period; v. 3 - The Revolutionary period and the last hundred years, pt. 1; v. 4 - The last hundred years, pt. 2, and special topics (education, libraries, philosophic thought, women, drama, Fine Arts, music, architecture, science, medicine, bench and bar, horticulture, and charities). Digital versions at Internet Archive (v. 1, v. 2, v. 3, v. 4), Google books (v. 1, v. 2, v. 3, v. 4), and Ancestry ($). WorldCat (Other Libraries); (with digital links).
 * Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County, Massachusetts (Boston, 1894), 3v. Digital versions at Internet Archive (v. 1, v. 2, v. 3) and Google books (v. 2 only). (Other Libraries);.
 * George H. Brennan, "The Early Massachusetts Court Records" in New England Magazine, 17 [1894]: 301-310.
 * John Tyler Hassam, "Early Records and Registers of Deeds for the County of Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1639-1735" in Massachusetts Society Society Publications, 2nd Ser., 12 [1895-1896]: 203-250. Digital versions of off print at Internet Archive and Google books. . Reprint of continuation as "Registers of Deeds for the County of Suffolk," 2nd Ser., 14 [1900-1901]: 34-104..
 * John Tyler Hassam, "Registers of Probate for the County of Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1639-1799" in Massachusetts Society Society Publications, 2nd Ser., 16 [1902]: 23-125. Digital versions at Internet Archive and Ancestry ($). WorldCat (Other Libraries);.
 * Richard D. Brown, "The Confiscation and Disposition of Loyalists' Estates in Suffolk County, Massachusetts" in William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., 21 [1964]: 534-550. Digital version at JStor ($ - for free at some libraries).
 * The Suffolk County MA GenWeb Project, an member of The MAGenWeb Project, an affiliate of The USGenWeb Project.
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Suffolk County
 * The USGenWeb Archives Project for Suffolk County (backup site)
 * Suffolk County Wikipedia page.