Vital Records of Franklin, MA, 1778-1872

The Vital Records of Franklin were compiled by Orestes T. Doe, the Franklin town clerk, in 1898. These records are based upon copies of original town records that were created from original books, around 1863. The author points out that Franklin was part of Wrentham until 1778. Franklin events prior to that date should also be searched in the vital records of that town.

Regarding the spelling of names, the author indicates: “In a great many instances the christian names have been incorrectly spelled; but in compiling the index, no liberties have been taken with the christian names and no assumptions have been made as to what they ought to be, as in the case of some of the surnames; on the contrary, they have been indexed strictly as they appear upon the Records, without regard to what may be the correct spelling. The following are a few examples of this: What should be Jemima may appear as Mima, or Amelia may appear as Melia, or Sarah as Sally; Harriet may be spelled Hariet; what should be Louisa or Louise may, by a mistake in the Record, appear as Louis, or vice versa; Catherine and Katherine are indexed under C and K respectively; Francis and Frances are used indiscriminately for both males and females, and so in a few other instances.”

This work contains 3,321 births, 2,318 marriages and 1,964 deaths.

The original volume is available in our Boston Research Library, call number F74 F9 F9 1898.

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