Vital Records of Warwick

18 Aug 2023: On 31 Mar 2015 I created Family:Lemuel Hedge and Sarah White (1) to record the births of their children, which events are recorded on page 1 of volume 1 of the Warwick Vital Records. Today I have finished with the last entry of Volume 2. In between, I have attempted to record every record on a WeRelate page and if possible connect that page to existing pages or trace it back as needed. Over 500 pages of records, sometimes a single line blossoming into a 5 or more generation tree as I traced it back. (Note however, the section on unplaced records below.)

I have chosen not to process Volume 3 and beyond (though I consulted them when needed). There are two basic reasons: 1) there are other available places to discover the information (fairly universal state records starting about 1843, and censuses) so they are not as irreplaceable; and 2) people from that era after 1850 may occasionally/frequently run into living persons constraints (such as death records not released for Massachusetts after 1924, WeRelate standards on living people, etc.) I believe Allred (mentioned below) provides coverage of volume 3 and 4.

Historically Warwick records were available by renting microfilm through one's local Family History Center. But most people gained access via Source:Allred, Marilyn. Town of Warwick, Franklin County, Massachusetts, Genealogical Records 1739-1900, Births, Marriages,, either directly, or through a transcript posted to an old listserv by Paul Allred (I have been told no relation to Marilyn). Working with Allred, I gradually became aware of some limitations of her presentations. Primarily, when a discrepancy arose, it was difficult to know where Allred found her data.

Shortly before 2015, familysearch.org made images of the film of the Warwick records available online, so having easy access to the actual records, I started this project (not realizing what a big task I had taken on.) I had some notion that it might potentially make WeRelate the place to go if one was interested in Warwick genealogy.

In the course of this project, I have found (literally) hundreds of errors in Allred, many significant. (There are a few comments about some typical errors posted on the source page.) By design, Ms. Allred was only consulting local records, and assumed Warwick records were a lot more insular than they were. Instead, for many families, it was a one or two generation stop on the way further west. She compounded these shortcomings by some poor guessing. I was having trouble working through any given family without finding some kind of error. I soon gave up auditing Allred, though I have noted errors in those situations where I became aware of them. The corrected information was posted to WeRelate pages.

Naturally, given the discrepancies I found with Allred, I have made sure to document sources pretty thoroughly, and believe I have provided enough evidence to show the reader why I reached different conclusions. I believe in a high percentage of cases, I was able to provide significantly more connections or more detail than is found in Allred. I tried hard to document when I was speculating and give the reasons for thinking so, in the relatively few places I allowed myself to do so.

The work of Ryan-O on Find A Grave has been especially appreciated. Also John Slaughter at ma-vitalrecords.org (unfortunatley which has been unreachable lately).

One useful difference between this project and Allred's work, is that this is more or less a living "document". So future researchers can add information, or if necessary, correct the inevitable errors I have made. Hopefully the spirit of using and documenting good sources will be maintained. --Jrich 05:19, 19 August 2023 (UTC)

Unplaced Records

For various reasons, I was unable to find or create a page based on certain records. I have listed these below. In addition, certain records, such as animal marks and strays, mention in town meetings, have been skipped. Possibly they could provide a better estimate of death, or similar tidbit, but the density of genealogical information is so low, they did not seem worth processing.

Warning Out

[For background, one may want to consult various books. For example, Source:Benton, Josiah Henry. Warning Out in New England, 1656-1817 is viewable on Google Books and so very accessible. Warning outs were not just issued to people of little visible support, presumably mostly young couples, but often to older couples who could easily end up being charges on the town. If the warned out parties actually left town, there may be no records of them leaving just the content of the warning out to identify who is intended. But it may be hard to determine where they came from, or went. For example, there are few records for New York online, so people that moved there can be hard to find.]

Vol. 1, loose page: March the 12 - 1768 William Temple and family were warned out of warwick.

No family members named, only timely Warwick resident appears to be Hannaniah Temple who doesn't appear to have an immediate relative with this name.

Vol. 1, loose page: Warwick March ye 7th: 1785. Then the following Persons Were Legally Warned to Depart out of the Town of Warwick within fourteen Days (Viz) Joseph Bass & Molly Bass ...

No appropriate Joseph Bass seen in Source:Bass, Charissa Taylor. Descendants of Deacon Samuel and Ann Bass, nor any marriages of a Joseph Bass to a Mary or Molly in a reasonable time frame.

Vol. 1, loose page: Warwick March ye 7th: 1785. Then the following Persons Were Legally Warned to Depart out of the Town of Warwick within fourteen Days (Viz) ... Jacob Hobart & Polley Hobart ...

No marriage of a Jacob Hobart to a Mary/Molly/Polly located. No indication of where he came from or went to. Person:Jacob Hobart (1) is possibility, but Hobart Genealogy says he dies in 1772 (death record has not been located). Also a Jacob was born in Hollis in 1762 (in Dunstable VRs) but no further details given by Hobart Genealogy and he barely of marriagable age in 1785.

Vol. 1, loose page: Warwick March ye 7th: 1785. Then the following Persons Were Legally Warned to Depart out of the Town of Warwick within fourteen Days (Viz) ... Manley Bearce Jaby Bearce Metilda Bearce ...

Nothing found.

Vol. 1, loose page: Warwick March ye 7th: 1785. Then the following Persons Were Legally Warned to Depart out of the Town of Warwick within fourteen Days (Viz) ... Hannah Field ...

Name too common, need more identification.

Deaths

Vol. 2, p. 50 January 26th 1820 Died Mary Barrows.

No gravestone, no obvious connected family found in Warwick. Without an age, hard to find.

Vol. 2, p. 72 Jan. 14, 1844 Mrs Colbrook aged ninety four (94 years)

No gravestone, no obvious connected family found in Warwick, don't know given name, maiden name or husband's name.

Vol. 2, p. 80 May 30th 1824 Died Widow Abigail Delvee.

No gravestone found, no Delvee family with wife named Abigail in records or Allred, no age, husband unknown. Called "Old Mrs. Delvee" in Blake's History of Warwick.

Vol.2, p. 98: September 2'd 1836 Died Mrs. Mary Fuller.

No conclusive identification. Possibly the wife of Isaiah Fuller, see Family:Isaiah Fuller and Mary Keyser (1).

Vol. 2, p. 98: June 12th 1836 Died Mehitible Fuller.

No gravestone, not identified in Allred. No clear candidate.

Vol. 2, p. 118: January 9th 1810 Died Mrs Gibson Aes 45 years.

No gravestone, not identified in Allred. No clear candidate.

Vol. 2, p. 118: Sept. 5th 1821 Died Widow Caroline Goldsbury.

No gravestone, not identified. No clear candidate. Allred identifies her as Person:Caroline Goldsbury (1) but that appears wrong, because the record does not reflect the married name and because a different death date is found for the married name.

Vol. 2, p. 144: May 31st 1819. Died Melinda Knolton.

No gravestone or age at death. No identification by Allred. Note that in 1827 a man named Lyman Knolton died in Warwick, and he had a sister named Person:Linda Knowlton (1). Same person??

Vol. 2, p. 194: Anna Perry Died August 13th 1823.

No gravestone found, nor any apparent connection to Warwick Perry families. No further information given by Allred.

Vol. 2, p. 214: February 19th 1844 Mrs Smith died aged 80 years.

No gravestone found, Allred has no additional details, state record here, slight different (date of death 18 Feb, age 81) but nothing to identify her.

Vol. 2, p. 204: Nov 11th Died Mrs Richards

Not found in Warwick. No entry in Allred appears to match. Year unknown but recorded between 1828 and 1837. Wrong month ruling out Person:Molly Richards (1).

Vol. 2, p. 228: October 22'd - 1834 Died Mille Shepardson

No gravestone located. Allred entry has no additional information. No age at death nor other information located. Connection to Family:George Moore and Milla Shepardson (1)???

Vol. 2, p. 228 Feb 12, 1842 Died Sarah Severy 90 yea[r]s

No gravestone located, nor additional information in Allred. From her age at death, suspect she is the unnamed wife of Jonathan Severy, but there is no actual evidence for forming any identification.

Vol. 2, p. 228 Feb 18. 1844 Widow Smith Died aged 80 years

No gravestone location, nor additional in Allred. State death record here has no information on birthplace or parents.

Vol. 2, p. 260 Jan. 27th 1812 Died Bethiah Wastcoat.

No other record of Bethiah found. Allred lists her by herself with no other information or connection to any Warwick Westcoat families. Could well be a child of Family:Richard Westcoat and Susanna Martin (1), but no evidence of such is found.

Vol. 2, p. 260 July 22'd 1833 Died Mrs White Poor house.

Too vague to identify. No gravestone located. Allred lists her by herself with no other information.

Vol. 2, p. 260: May 26 1837 Died A. H. Wood Negro at Poor house.

Not listed at all in Allred. Not found in census. No gravestone located. Assume male?