Index
Vital Records Of Wenham Massachusetts
To The End Of The Year 1849
Published By The Essex Institute Salem, Mass. 1904.


[Transcribed by Dave Swerdfeger]






EXPLANATIONS.

The following records of births, marriages and deaths include all entries to be found in the books of record kept by the town clerks; in the church records; in the returns made to the Salem Quarterly Court; in the cemetery inscriptions; and in several private records found in family Bibles. These records are printed in a condensed form in which every essential particular has been preserved. All duplication of the town clerk's record has been eliminated, but differences in entry and other explanatory matter appear in brackets. Parentheses are used when they occur in the original record; also to show the difference in the spelling of a name in the same entry and to indicate the maiden name of a wife. When places other than Wenham and Massachusetts are named in the original records, they are given in the printed copy. Marriages and intentions of marriage are printed under the names of both parties. Double-dating is used in the months of January, February and March, prior to 1752, whenever it appears in the original and also whenever from the sequence of entry in the original the date may be easily determined. In all records the original spelling of names is followed, and in the alphabetical arrangement the various forms should be examined, as items about the same family may be found under different spellings.

WENHAM

The first settlers, as early as 1638, gave the name of Enon to this territory which was originally a part of Salem. The General Court on September 7, 1643, ordered "that Enon shalbe called Wennam. Wennam is granted to bee a towne, & hath liberty to send a deputy." The present name is supposed to have been derived from the parish of Wenham, near Ipswich, in Suffolk County, England, from which some of the early settlers are said to have emigrated. The population of Wenham at different periods was as follows:
  • 1765, 564.
  • 1776, 638.
  • 1790, 502.
  • 1800, 476.
  • 1810, 554.
  • 1820, 572.
  • 1830, 611.
  • 1840, 689.
  • 1850, 977.
  • 1900, 847.


ABBREVIATIONS
  • a.----age.
  • abt.----about.
  • b.----born.
  • bef.----before.
  • bp.----baptized.
  • C.R.----church record.
  • ch.----child.
  • chn.----children.
  • Co.----county.
  • CT.R.----court record, Essex Co. Quarterly Court.
  • d.----daughter; day; died.
  • Dea.----deacon.
  • dup.----duplicate entry.
  • G.R.1.----gravestone record, Old Cemetery.
  • G.R.2.----gravestone record, Fairfield Burying Ground.
  • h.----husband.
  • inf.----infant.
  • int.----intention of marriage.
  • jr.----junior.
  • m.----male; married; month.
  • P.R.1.----Record from family register, now in possession of Mrs. Lydia E. Jones.
  • P.R.2.----Record from sampler wrought by Sally Lee Dodge, now in possession of the widow of Daniel E. Homan.
  • P.R.3.----Bible record belonging to Theodore Dodge of Tamworth, N.H., now in possession of Miss Bessie F. Dodge.
  • P.R.4.----Record from sampler wrought by Mary Ann Dodge, now in possession of her daughter, Mrs. Mary Ann Stanley.
  • P.R.5.----Record now in possession of Benjamin H. Conant.
  • P.R.6.----Bible record now in possession of John W. Higgins.
  • P.R.7.----Bible record now in possession of John K. Dodge.
  • P.R.8.----Bible record now in possession of George Eustis Perkins.
  • P.R.9.----Bible record now in possession of Miss Martha Dodge.
  • P.R.10.----Bible record now in possession of Miss Frances E. Dodge.
  • rec.----recorded.
  • s.----son.
  • sr.----senior.
  • unm.----unmarried.
  • w.----wife.
  • wid. ----widow.
  • widr.----widower.
  • y.----year.


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