Vital Records of Dedham, MA 1635 - 1845

From the introduction:

“In the Town Report, published in 1885, the town clerk called the attention of the town to the importance of printing its records, and recommended that a small appropriation be made each year for that purpose, to the end that eventually the whole of its records might be reproduced in print. The subject was brought before the town at the April meeting, 1885, and an appropriation was made for the purpose of printing the record of births, marriages and deaths, under the direction of the town clerk. An additional appropriation was made at the April meeting, 1886.

Under these votes the present volume has been printed. It contains the first two volumes of town records of births, marriages and deaths, and covers a period of 210 years—1635 to 1845. An appendix is added, containing the certified copies of records of marriages solemnized prior to 1800, returned from other towns, in compliance with the provisions of Chap. 84, Acts of 1857. The original volumes were never indexed.

A copy of the first book was made, and furnished with an index, over twenty years ago by Calvin Guild, a member of the Dedham Historical Society, and author of the Genealogy of the Guild Family. This copy was accepted by the town, March 7, 1864, and has since been generally used by those who have had occasion to consult these records.

The leaves of the manuscript volume are very brittle, and although the first book was several years ago carefully interleaved and rebound, yet in many places the leaves have broken, and parts thereof been lost. In such cases when it was possible the lost parts have been supplied from Mr. Guild's copy, but in brackets.

The book containing the original entries for the first forty years has disappeared. At a meeting held 15:11:1672, "it was ordered that the register shall be transcribed at the town's charge," which seems to have been done soon after, for the entries in the first volume from the beginning of the book to 1674 are in one handwriting.

In 1880 the second volume was copied by order of the town, and certified by the town clerk, and furnished with an index. This book contains the records to 1845. Since that date they have been kept in the books provided by the State, containing blanks for a more detailed record under the provisions of statutes passed about that time.”

This database contains 5,835 births, 4,984 marriages, 4,934 marriage intentions, and 1,621 deaths. The images of the original book pages may be viewed from the search results page.

This volume is also available in our Boston research library, call number: F74.D3 D32 1895.

To locate additional genealogy and local history resources, search our library catalog.