Abbreviations and Format: Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court, 1691-1780

As records in the eighteenth century were not always well kept, the number of children, the dates of births and deaths, and the service years in the towns may vary. However, every effort has been made to decipher and to compile accurately this data.

The birthplaces and deathplaces of the legislators, other than in Massachusetts (except where clarification is necessary), use the new postal code abbreviations for U.S. states and Canadian provinces. All other place references use traditional abbreviations, e.g. Jones, William (1715np-1780 Halifax NS); Falmouth, Me. HR 1760. Unknown dates and places are indicated by the use of nd and np, respectively.

Legislators in this study served in the:

House of Representatives (HR)
Provincial Congress (PC)
Legislative Protest of 1768S (LP)
Council (years given)
Mandamus Council

Legislative sessions began in May and ended sometime during the next year but before May, e.g. HR 1754 lasted from May 29, 1754 until April 28, 1755. Sometimes new elections were called during the year so one legislature ended and another began as in 1741: 1741May and 1741July.

Legislators served regularly in their towns or counties, as selectmen, moderators, treasurers, etc. These were annually elected posts. The deacon often served for life as did most Justices of the Peace (JP) and Justices of the Quorum (JPq). The death of the British monarch would end the term of a justice. Reappointment usually followed.

In the counties, some of the legislators served on the Court of Common Pleas (Sup. Court of Com. Pleas Justice) for a term that might be interrupted by the death of the king.

Legislators were elected to various committees, conventions, and congresses:

Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1779-80 (1779C)
The Continental Congress (CC)
The Massachusetts ratifying Convention of 1788 for the U.S. Constitution (1788C)
Committees of Correspondence (Com. Corres)
Committees of Safety (Com. of Safety)

When offices were held, the Massachusetts counties are abbreviated as:

Berkshire (Berk)                               
Bristol (Bris)                               
Dukes                             
Essex                             
Hampshire (Hamp)
Nantucket (Nan)
Norfolk (Norf)
Plymouth (Ply)
Worcester (Worc)

and Maine counties as:

Cumberland (Cumb)
Lincoln (Linc)
York

Wives of the legislators have their maiden names, married names if additional marriages occur, and their dates of life provided in the sketches, e.g. Joseph Wheeler (1736-1793) M Mary Greenleaf (1742-1783) in 1760 and Marguerita (Olivier) (Coolidge) Jennison (1726-1816) in 1784, 11/0 ch. This sketch indicates that Mary died in 1783 after the birth of eleven children. Wheeler had no children with Marguerita, his second wife. (For many legislators it is unknown which children are from which marriage.) Marguerita’s maiden name was Olivier, her first husband’s name Coolidge, and her sec-
ond husband’s Jennison. No record indicates any additional husbands after Wheeler’s death.

Because a wife assumed the name of her husband, sometimes her maiden name and quite often her date of birth were lost in the records. Samuel Williams’s wife Abigail had no recorded maiden name, birth date, or date of marriage (Samuel Williams [1679-1765] M Abigail —— [c1685-1779] in c1705). Part of the problem may be the destruction of the Taunton records.

When there are questions about available information, another format is frequently employed if the records permit its use. The use of 1750 is only for the purpose of an example.

a1750 = after 1750
b1750 = in or after 1750
c1750 = about 1750

Before 1752 if dates between Jan. 1 and March 24 are confusing because of the use of “Old Style” and “New Style” dating, the following mark is employed. The mark j will indicate the uncertainty of the exact year (j1743). The date could be 1742.

Some miscellaneous abbreviations are also used, such as ART for Artillery Company. College graduation from Harvard College is shown as (HarC 1779), and shown similarly for Yale C., Princeton C., and Dartmouth C.