The Boxford Historical Document Center in Boxford, Massachusetts

document

Boxford {Masachusetts] – Tucked into the heart of West Boxford Village is an unassuming building that houses many of the town’s treasures — the Boxford Historical Document Center.

The modest one-story brick building, situated next to the Second Congregational Church at the corner of Washington and Main streets, is jam packed with historical records, photographs, maps, genealogies, microfilm, models and numerous artifacts that have meaningful connections to the history of the 325-year-old town.

Built in 1930 as a library in memory of Catherine Ingalls, the structure was transformed 46 years later into a historical document center at the time of the country’s Bicentennial in 1976 thanks to the efforts of Dick Hopping, Rosamond Price Gowen and Dorothy Woodbury who “recognized the need for a center to preserve the town’s records and documents,” explained Boxford Archivist Martha Clark this week.

Taking the Tri-Town Transcript on a tour of the Document Center this week, Clark pointed to the oldest document in the archives — the first Book of Records from the First Congregational Church of Boxford, dating back to 1702-1703. The original book lists names of the church’s earliest members including Lt. John Peabody of Topsfield, Lt. Perley’s wife of Rowley and the widow Hannah Peabody. It also lists baptisms and Town Meeting notes from the early 1700s.

“All church records are on deposit here,” added Clark who pointed out the Second Congregational parish formed in 1736 and a Third Congregational Church formed briefly in the 1800s in response to a disagreement between the parishioners and the pastor of the First Church over sheep ownership.

Other interesting documents at the center are the early 1800 papers of Moses Dorman, an 1830s personal account book of resident Isaac Hale, an autograph book owned by Myra Day and the business records of Charles Chaplin’s Depot Road Saw Mill from the late 1800s.

Read the full article in the August 13, 2010 edition of Wickedlocal./com/Middleton

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Time limit is exhausted. Please reload the CAPTCHA.