Records Of Plymouth Colony: Births, Deaths, Burials, And Other Records, 1633-1689, edited by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, is a reprint of a work originally published as Volume Eight of Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England: Miscellaneous Records 1633-1689. This renamed eighth volume also contains a reprint of Plymouth Colony Vital Records a supplement form The Mayflower Descendant by George Earnest Bowman. “The miscellaneous records appertaining to the Plymouth Colony, originally forming part of the contents of several volumes, have been printed collectively, and are comprised in this volume;” with, said contents broken down into three main sections. The sections are first, miscellaneous records of birth, marriages, deaths, and burials; second, treasury accounts; third, lists of freemen and others.
In the first section, records of births, marriages, deaths, and burials come from several towns as returned by town clerks. “he records of births, commencing in 1647, of Swansea, Yarmouth, Plymouth, Sandwich, Eastham, Scituate, Taunton, Barnstable, and Rehobeth give the names of the newborn, dates, and names of parents. The records of marriages commence in 1633 and give the names of the newlyweds, dates, and sometimes names of brides’ fathers.”
The second section originally comprised of about one hundred and twelve pages, much of which was written on one side of a page only. These records comprised about one third of their original volume in which were recorded portions of the law, Indian Deeds and the Treasurer’s Accounts. These records begin on 10 June 1658 and run through 5 June 1686, when the colony was Andros. Many of these records are the results of taxes, fees, and court orders.
The final section contains “the names of those who were admitted to the freedom of the colony of New Plymouth, together with those who took the oath of fidelity, and those who were able to bear arms, in the year 1643.”
Each section is indexed. The first section is indexed by surname with each letter broken down by births, then marriages, then death and burials together.
Copies of Records Of Plymouth Colony: Births, Deaths, Burials, And Other Records, 1633-1689 are available from Family Roots Publishing.