Dorchester Antiquarian - Marriages and Intentions

The Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society Papers (Mss 624) at NEHGS consists of records concerning the Society itself as well as documents relating to the town and people of Dorchester, Mass. that were collected by the Society.

Sub-group III Material concerning the town of Dorchester, Series E Vital and other records, Folders 35-41, contain a collection of marriage intentions and marriages from 1733 to 1836.

The three small record books containing the earliest group of marriage intentions and marriages, for 1733-34, 1735-36, 1744-48, also contain some entries recording horse brands. Another record book contained marriage intentions and marriages for 1763 to 1799 and the intentions for 1793 to 1836 were recorded on slips of paper.  Some of these latter marriage intentions have handwritten addenda noting the subsequent marriage date.

The Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society was instituted on 27 January 1843 during a meeting held at the house of Ebenezer Clapp, Jr., in Dorchester.  The object of the Society was the “collection and preservation of books, pamphlets, manuscripts and curiosities, bearing on the biography and history of men and things in the United States, from the earliest period”.  The Hon. Edmund P. Tileston was elected President; Edmund J. Baker, William D. Swan, and Henry M. Leeds, Curators; Ebenezer Clapp, Jr., Corresponding Secretary; and Edward Holden, Librarian.  The Society was incorporated by an act signed by the Governor of Massachusetts on 3 May 1855.  On September 18, 1871, the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society deposited a large number of books, pamphlets, “and other objects” at NEHGS. Upon the death of Henry G. Denny in 1907, all records and activity of the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society ceased.

The complete collection is part of the R Stanton Avery Special Collections Department, New England Historic Genealogical Society, call number Mss 624.

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