USGenWeb Genealogical Site for the Town of
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Harwich Massachusetts Barnstable County |
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Including the Villages of Harwich Center, Harwich Port, North Harwich, South Harwich, East Harwich, West Harwich and Pleasant Lake
Brooks Academy Museum, Harwich
Home of the Harwich Historical Society
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| since May 10, 2004 |
New Information on This Site
March 13, 2008 — We have a new address! Many USGenWeb sites have relocated, and we have, too. Please bookmark our new address.
October 5, 2004 — The newest addition to the Cemeteries Page is a set of gravestone records for the First Congregational Church Cemetery, published in The Mayflower Descendant.
May 10, 2004 — Welcome to the brand new Harwich USGenWeb page. I'll be posting notices here as new resources are added to the site.
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Lookups and Resources
If you have any Harwich material and would like to volunteer for lookups please send email to Dale H. Cook.
When requesting a lookup please use the email link following the listing for that book, limit your request to one or two specific names on separate lines, and please thank the volunteer for their time and effort.
Frederick Freeman, The History of Cape Cod, 2 vols. (Boston: Geo. C. Rand & Avery, 1858-62; repr. Yarmouth Port, MA: Parnassus Imprints, 1965) — Dale H. Cook.
Leonard H. Smith, Jr., compiler, Cape Cod Library of Local History and Genealogy, 2 vols. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1992) — Dale H. Cook.
Robert Paine Carlson's Cape Cod Gravestones is the best online resource for Cape Cod graveyard research. It holds abstracts of 17th, 18th and 19th century gravestones in the old Cape cemeteries, along with other valuable information about graveyards and gravestone carvers and a number of gravestone photographs. Bob's site is a resource that every Cape Cod researcher should take advantage of. You will find links to his abstracts of Harwich gravestones on my Harwich Cemeteries page.
In addition to serving as Barnstable County Coordinator for the USGenWeb Project, Ray Sears has been collecting and sharing genealogical and historical information for many years. His Sears Family Association site contains information about immigrant Richard Sears of Yarmouth and his descendants, a Cape Cod Gazetteer, and other information about the Sears family and allied early Cape Cod families.
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Family Researchers and Websites
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Books, Newspapers and Records
You can find copies of books for sale by using the search engine at Bookfinder.com.
Louise H. Kelley and Dorothy Straw, Vital Records, Town of Harwich, Massachusetts, 1694-1850 (Harwich MA: William S. Sullwold Publishing, 1982).
(Baptismal) Records of the Brewster Congregational Church, 1700-1792 (1911; repr. Salem, MA: Higginson Book Co., 1996)
Vernon Roscoe Nickerson, Harwich and Chatham, Massachusetts, Genealogical (Taunton, MA: 1969)
Josiah Paine, A History of Harwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1800; Including the Early History of That Part Now Brewster; With Some Account of Its Indian Inhabitants (Rutland, VT: Tuttle Pub. Co., 1937; repr. Yarmouthport, MA, Taunton, MA.: Parnassus Imprints, Wm. S. Sullwold, 1971)
Indian History of Harwich, Massachusetts (Harwich, MA: Harwich Historical Society, 1972)
William Robert Chaplin, The History of Harwich Lights and Their Owners (Salem, MA?: The American Neptune?, 1951)
Harold A. Whelan, Catholicism On Cape Cod: The History of Holy Trinity Church, West Harwich, Massachusetts 1866-1981 (Rutland, VT.: Mercury Publishing Co., 1984)
Resident and Business Directory of Harwich, Dennis and Chatham, Massachusetts, 1901: Containing a Complete Resident, Street and Business Directory, Town Officers, Schools, Societies, Churches, Post-Offices, etc. (Hopkinton, MA: A. E. Foss, 1901)
Atlas of Barnstable County, Massachusetts: Towns of Bourne, Mashpee, Falmouth, Sandwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, Provincetown (Boston: Walker Lithograph & Pub. Co., 1910)
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A newspaper often had a succession of titles on its masthead during the course of its publication. Some libraries list newspapers by the last title used, followed by previous titles. Other libraries list all holdings under the most common, most familiar or most recent title. For each title the library's holdings are given.
Boston Public Library - Microtext Department
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Louise H. Kelley and Dorothy Straw, Vital Records, Town of Harwich, Massachusetts, 1694-1850 (Harwich MA: William S. Sullwold Publishing, 1982).
Vital Records 1694 to present:
Town Clerk
Harwich Town Hall
732 Main St.
Harwich, MA 02645
508-430-7516
Fax: 508-432-5039
Hours: Mon. - Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Vital Records 1841-1915:
Massachusetts Archives
220 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125
617-727-2816
Fax: 617-288-8429
Hours: Mon. - Fri. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Sat. 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Vital Records 1916 to present:
Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics
150 Mount Vernon St., 1st Floor
Dorchester, MA 02125-3105
617-740-2600
Or order online:
Births
Marriages
Divorces
Deaths
Massachusetts Vital Records Information from Ancestry.com
Deeds and Probate
Barnstable County Registry of Deeds
3195 Main St.
P.O. Box 368
Barnstable, MA 02630
508-362-7733
Fax: 508-362-5065
Hours: Mon. - Fri. 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Barnstable Probate and Family Court
3195 Main St.
P.O. Box 346
Barnstable, MA 02630
508-375-6725
Fax: 508-362-3662
Hours: Mon. - Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
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Genealogical and Historical Societies, Libraries and Locations
Genealogical and Historical Societies and Libraries
Brooks Free Library
739 Main St.
Harwich, MA 02645
508-430-7562
Fax: 508-430-7564
Email: bfl_mail@clamsnet.org
Hours: Mon. & Weds. 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tues. Noon to 8:00 p.m., Thurs. - Sat. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Harwich Historical Society and Brooks Academy Museum
80 Parallel St.
Harwich, MA 02645
508-432-8089
Hours: Mon., Wed., & Fri. 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Admission: Free
This town-owned building was one of the first navigation schools in the nation and holds a number of historic collections.
Cape Cod Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 1394
Harwich, MA 02645
The Society's Genealogical Library is located at the Dennis Public Library, 673 Main St., Rte. 28, Dennisport, MA, and is attended on Tuesdays from noon to 4:00 p.m., and on Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Questions to the Society's Genealogical Library can be addressed to Elsie Gustafson at cranber@comcast.net.
Meetings are held at the Brewster Ladies' Library Auditorium, 1822 Main St., Brewster, MA, on the second Wednesday of each month from September to May, from 10:00 a.m. to noon (unless otherwise noted on the Meetings Page).
The Society's publication, The Bulletin, is issued three times each year, in April, August and December.
The Society includes a number of special interest groups which meet on a regular schedule, and information about those groups, as well as about other activities and details of Society membership, can be found on the Society's web site.
Cape & Islands Historical Association
359 Main St.
N. Harwich, MA 02645
P.O. Box 50
Bourne, MA 02559-0050
508-888-3300, Ext. 103
Cape Cod Maritime Historical Association
P.O. Box 176
Yarmouthport, MA 02675
508-362-1222
Massachusetts Historical Society
1154 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02215-3695
617-536-1608
Hours: Mon. - Weds. 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; Thurs. 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Fri. 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.; Closed weekends.
New England Historic Genealogical Society
101 Newbury St.
Boston, MA 02116-3007
617-536-5740
Fax: 617-536-7307
Email: nehgs@nehgs.org
Library Hours: Tues. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Weds. - Thurs. 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Fri. - Sat. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Winter Hours (Dec. - Mar.): Tues. - Weds. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Thurs. 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Fri. - Sat. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The library is closed for some holidays - call or see the website for details.
For non-members there is a daily admisssion fee for the research library.
NEHGS is nation's oldest genealogical society, founded in 1845. It offers unsurpassed resources for New England research including the Boston research library of over 200,000 volumes. Members not in the Boston area appreciate the circulating library of more than 30,000 volumes and online resources including all issues of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, the nation's oldest genealogical journal, published quarterly since 1847.
Harwich Sites on the National Register of Historic Places
Captain James Berry House (added 1986 - Building #86001837)
37 Main St., Harwich
Harwich Historic District (added 1975 - District #75000245)
Irregular pattern on both sides of Main St., west to Forest St. and east to junction of Rte. 39 and Chatham Rd., Harwich
South Harwich Methodist Church (added 1986 - Building #86001887)
270 Chatham Rd., Harwich
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The Native American name of this area was Satucket, and it extended across the Cape, encompassing the current towns of Harwich and Brewster. The Satucket natives numbered as many as 500 in 1694, and lived in what is now the northwest part of the town, where traces of them have been found. Settlers from New Plymouth Colony arrived after that colony was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. Harwich was incorporated as a town on September 14, 1694, and took its name from a town in England. The original settlement and first meetinghouse were located in what later becanme the North Parish, now Brewster. Settlement spread southward, and the first church in what is now Harwich was organized on November 6, 1747, with the Reverend Edward Pell as its first minister. The North Precinct of Harwich was set off as the town of Brewster on February 19, 1803. The most prominent industry in the town is the cultivation of cranberries. The town of Harwich encompasses seven villages - Harwich Center, Harwich Port, North Harwich, South Harwich, East Harwich, West Harwich and Pleasant Lake.
| 1885 | (State) | 2,783 | 1920 | (U.S.) | 1,846 | 1930 | (U.S.) | 2,329 | 1940 | (U.S.) | 2,535 | |||
| 1950 | (U.S.) | 2,649 | 1960 | (U.S.) | 3,747 | 1970 | (U.S.) | 5,892 | 1980 | (U.S.) | 8,971 | |||
| 1990 | (U.S.) | 10,275 | 2000 | (U.S.) | 12,386 |
1893 Topographic Map of Harwich (1533 x 1078 - 1.4 Mb)
From the 1893 Yarmouth and Chatham Quadrangles (15 minute series)
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Commonwealth Communities Page for Harwich
The Harwich Oracle (Weekly Newspaper - Circulation 3,099)
Cape Cod Connection Page for Harwich
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Barnstable County, MA - USGenWeb
Massachusetts Genealogy - USGenWeb
The USGenWeb Project - Home Page
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Please note that although I have family ties to Harwich I now live hundreds of miles away and do not have easy access to the town.
Email comments to Dale H. Cook
Please visit the Plymouth Colony Pages
USGenWeb Harwich, MA, commenced 10-May-2004.
Created and maintained by Dale H. Cook.
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Copyright © 2004-2008 by Dale H. Cook. All rights reserved.
