Sutton (Mass.), Records, C.1683-C.1868; 1940
Contents List
Box 1, Folder 1: Materials concerning the Allen Family, 1695-1845
Box 1, Folder 2: Materials concerning the Barton Family, 1737-1800
Box 1, Folder 3: Materials concerning the Carriel Family, 1753-1810
Box 1, Folder 4: Materials concerning the Elliot Family, 1762-1794
Box 1, Folder 5: Materials concerning the Goddard Family, 1753-1787
Box 1, Folder 6: Materials concerning the Hall Family, 1683-1785 [David Hall's diary is at MHS]
Box 1, Folder 7: Materials concerning the Hicks Family, 1726-1772
Box 1, Folder 8: Materials concerning the Holman Family, 1729-1742
Box 1, Folder 9: Materials concerning the LeBaron Family, 1783-1808
Box 1, Folder 10: Materials concerning the Lovell Family, 1709-1773
Box 1, Folder 11: Materials concerning the Marble Family, 1709-1789
Box 1, Folder 12: Materials concerning the Putnam Family, 1749-1808
Box 2, Folder 1: Materials concerning the Stockwell Family, 1720-1799
Box 2, Folder 2: Materials concerning the Waite Family, 1708-1762
Box 2, Folder 3: Materials concerning the Waters Family, 1701-1805
Box 2, Folder 4: Miscellaneous genealogical notes and letters to C. C. Baldwin with information
concerning Sutton families
Box 2, Folder 5: Wills
Box 2, Folder 6: Correspondence, legal documents, and town reports, 1710-1846
Box 3, Folder 1: Poll list, c.1839 (with designations of political party affiliations)
Box 3, Folder 2: Town and county tax list for 1826
Box 3, Folder 3: Personal property tax lists, 1867-1868
Box 3, Folder 4: Records of the Union Library Society of the Second Parish in Sutton, 1779-1786
Box 3, Folder 5: Autographs of residents
Box 3, Folder 6: Materials pertaining to a brand of the General Society in the County of Worcester
for the Reformation of Morals, c.1815
Box 3, Folder 7: Tax and birth records, c.1849-c.1852
Box 3, Folder 8: Inscriptions in Sutton cemeteries, 1940; Booklet of Sutton epitaphs
Box 3, Folder 9: Records of the Proprietors of Sutton, including warrants for meetings, records
of proceedings, surveys and plans, etc., c.1714-c.1809
Box 4: C. C. Baldwin's manuscript notes on the history of Sutton, in four bound volumes
Sutton, Worcester County, Massachusetts is one of the oldest towns in the county, and it originally comprised what is now Millbury (incorporated as a separate town in 1813) and portions of several other adjoining towns that were subsequently incorporated separately. The original territory was purchased from John Wampus and a band of Nipmuc Indians. The purchasers. title was confirmed by the General Court in 1704, and the town was incorporated under the name Sutton in 1715. The early settlement was primarily due to the efforts of the proprietors of the township who, in 1715, granted four thousand acres of land to the first thirty settlers on the condition that they begin work on the land within six weeks.
This collection documents much of the early history of Sutton and is especially valuable for the manuscripts of some of the first families to settle in the town. There is substantive material pertaining to the following families: Allen (from Sudbury, Mass.), Barton, Carriel, Elliot, Goddard, Hall, Hicks, Holman, LeBaron, Lovell, Marble, Putnam, Stockwell, Waite, and Waters. Evidently this material was gathered together by Christopher Columbus Baldwin (1800-1835). There are also miscellaneous genealogical notes and letters to Baldwin about Sutton families, as well as four bound volumes of Baldwin's manuscript notes gathered in preparation for his history of Sutton. The volumes include a predominant amount of genealogical material although there are also transcriptions of muster rolls and various local records, some original documents, and lists of town officers. Baldwin's history was not completed.
The collection also includes wills; correspondence, legal documents, and town reports, 1710-1846; a poll list, c.1839 (with designations of political party affiliation); tax lists for 1826, 1867-1868; records of the Union Library Society of the Second Parish in Sutton, 1779-1786; a small collection of autographs of residents; materials pertaining to a branch of the General Society in the County of Worcester for the Reformation of Morals, c.1815; tax and birth records, c.1849-c.1852; and inscriptions in Sutton cemeteries, copied by M. S. Holden in 1940, and a small booklet of Sutton epitaphs.
There are records of the Proprietors of Sutton, including warrants for meetings, records of proceedings, surveys and plans, etc., c.1714-c.1809.
The two reels of microfilm include the records of the First Congregatonal Church (Sutton, Mass.), c.1720-c.1834 (the originals are owned by the First Congregational Church (Sutton, Mass.)), and public welfare records, 1819-1829 (the originals are deposited in the Sutton Free Public Library).
The First Congregational Church (Sutton, Mass.) was founded in 1720 with the settlement of the Rev. John McKinstry (1677-1754). In 1729 David Hall (1704-1789) was ordained as the new minister and served for nearly sixty years. Among the records are lists of admissions and dismissions, 1729-c.1820; public confessions, 1736-1782; baptisms, 1728-1826; marriages, 1799-1825; and deaths (including causes), 1769-1798. Included are records of church meetings and votes, the church covenant, and details of Hall's acceptance and ordination in 1729, as well as a lengthy record of the church's remonstrance against a decision of an Ecclesiastical Council, 1748, concerning a dispute with the Second Church of Sutton.
The public welfare records contain accounts of the Overseers of the Poor, and receipts issued to individuals for "trouble and expenses incurred on account of providing for" various indigent families in Sutton. The accounts include specific foodstuffs, medicine, wood, board, and consultative visits, all charged to the town. There are several letters written to the town of Sutton by the town governments of Millbury and Grafton, Mass., assessing Sutton's share of the support of specific persons, as well as letters sent to Sutton from Fitchburg, Mass., for the same purpose.
David Hall's diary is located at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
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