One of my favorite lectures I present at history and genealogy events is titled Tho’ They Were Poor, They May Have Been Rich In Records. The wealth of information that is available often leads to more family history than you ever thought possible including details on religion, birth, death, burial, divorce, children, and more. The lecture and slides includes how to find such records and show many examples from across the country of what records contain. Even family members you don’t think of as poor may have spent time in such places.
Imagine my excitement this morning when I opened an email from the New England Historic Genealogical Society and read The Weekly Genealogist. One section jumped out at me: “Tewksbury Almshouse Records Available Online.” Several paragraphs followed including this: “The Tewksbury [Massachusetts] Almshouse intake records, 1854-1884 (bulk 1860-1884), have been digitized and placed on both the Digital
Commonwealth and UMass Lowell websites. This effort was a partnership between the Tewksbury Public Health Museum and UMass Lowell.”
The project will have about 40,000 names indexed when it is completed. Visit http://library.uml.edu/clh/Collect.Html and scroll down to Tewksbury for several entries related to this almshouse including historical background. Don’t forget to check back for updates.
If you have been a long-time reader of my blog or attended my presentations, you know that I often discuss the rich research resources held in Special Collections sections of college and university libraries.
If you don’t subscribe to this free NEHGS newsletter, you may read it here: http://www.americanancestors.org/enews-2014/ and also access the links to the records.
© 2014, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.
