Massachusetts
Pauper Records


Don’t Look Here if Your Ancestors Were Well-to-Do.

Pauper records identify persons by name, birth date, birth places, parents, age, marital status, and date of admission to the almshouse. Sometimes they provide physical descriptions and character assessments.

 
 

Massachusetts Town

Massachusetts Counties

Barnstable

Berkshire

Bristol

Dukes

Essex

 
Andover:
Andover Pauper Records from 1815-1916, Fiches 172-193


Brimfield: fiche 67-70
Brimfield Pauper Registers 1841-1845, 1851-1852, 1876. Fiche 67.  Most listings includes name, age, and place of birth. In 1876, all 28 listings are for males aged 17-55, described either as "dark" or "light", and ranging in height from 5'4" to 6.

Account of Brimfield Transient Paupers 1857-1868. Fiche 67.  Data typically includes name, age, residence and occasional notes; i.e., "durty ragged sum drunk", "complained because their supper wasn't better", "returned soldier lost one arm & eye at the battle of Fredericksburg". The last two years of records document the height of each pauper.


Boylston: fiche 65-79
Boylston Settlements & Overseers of Poor 1847-1883. Fiches 65-67. Records often provide age, date of death, former residence, or relatives.

Boylston [Almshouse Inventories & Valuations] 1850-1919, Fiches 73-76.

Boylston [Overseers of the Poor 1883-1939]. 141 pages. Fiches 76-78.
These records include agreements regarding various paupers, individual case reports, and expenditures of the overseers.

Boylston Pauper Register [1907-1912]. Fiche 79.
These two separate registers differentiate paupers receiving total support from those receiving partial support; either may provide paupers age, date &/or place of birth, nationality of parents, name of spouse, or death date.

Boylston Pauper Register [1913-1942]. Fiche 79-81.
Records may provide paupers age, marital status, date &/or place of birth, or birthplace of parents. 79-81.
























 

 

   
     
     
       
       
 
     
     

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