January 26, 2023
Addition to Westborough and Its People:
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
Update to Westborough Church Records:
- Westborough Church Records – Expanded Transcription– An expanded transcription of the Westborough Church Records by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
January 25, 2023
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
- Fessenden John (1730-1808)
- Fessenden Thomas (1739-1813)
- Jones, Ichabod – ‘Vagrant Sings makes Verses and is sometimes Crazy’
- Stiles, Ezra (1727-1795)
- Wellman, Rev. James (1723-1808)
Additions and update to Diary Themes: Topics:
- Bellows [new]
- Charitable Contributions – Table [updated]
- Hats and Hatters [new]
- Ordinations and Installations (Chronological) [new]
- Medical [new]
Addition to Sermons:
- 1754: Burnings Bewailed – The Burning of Home of Alpheus and Elizabeth Newton– Introduction and transcription by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
- 1767: On the Origin, Duty, and Business of Deacons 1767 Sept. 27 – Introduction and transcription by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
Additions to Westborough and Its People:
- Warnings Out of Town – 1767 – Westborough Town Records p.452 – Transcribed by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
- Buck, Ruth
- Hardy, Jemima
- Kidney, John
- Maynard, Hephzibah
- Palmer, Martha
January 23, 2023
Additions and updates to Westborough and Its People:
- Under-Registration of Female Births, Westborough [moved from Diary Themes: Topics]
- Take the Marriages by Day of the Week-Quiz, based on data from Vital Records to 1850for Westborough. [new]
- Table – Maternal Mortality in Westborough (with AGES) [updated]
- Table – Stillbirths and Miscarriages in the Diaries of Ebenezer Parkman and Breck Parkman [updated]
Addition and update to Sermons:
- Ebenezer Parkman’s Sermon Occasioned by Thomas Halls Suicide 1741– Introduction and transcription by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr. [new]
- 1731: Sudden Death of a Child– Transcription by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr. [updated]
Addition to Miscellaneous Writings:
- Last Will and Testament, Ebenezer Parkman – November 5, 1782– transcription by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr. [new]
Additions and update to Diary Themes: People:
- Adams, Thomas (1725-1812) [new]
- Africans and African Americans [updated]
- Pratt, Isaiah (Isaiah Pratt’s Vision: “had seen hell and had seen Christ”) [new]
- Quincy Edmund (1703-1788) [new]
Update to Diary Themes: Topics:
December 8, 2021
Update to Diary Themes: People:
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
- Dunham Richard – Indian Captive
- Cook, Thomas (b. 1738)
Additions to Westborough and Its People during Parkman’s Time:
- Buck, Ruth
- Buck, Ruth – Confession
- Buck, Ruth – Relation
- Folktale Friday: Ruth Buck, the “Witch of Westborough” (Forbes and History)
Reorganization of Scholarship on, and Relating to, Parkman.
December 2, 2021
Additions to Scholarship on, and Relating to, Parkman:
Articles and more by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
Reorganized the Diary page to clarify searching and browsing options.
Update to Diary Themes: People:
Additions to Westborough and Its People during Parkman’s Time:
December 1, 2021
- Additions to Westborough and Its People during Parkman’s Time:
Vital Statistics beyond Vital Records to 1850
- Table – Deaths (Chronological) through 1802
- Table – Deaths (Alphabetically) through 1802
- Table – Maternal Mortality in Westborough (with Ages)
- Table – Stillbirths and Miscarriages in the Diaries of Ebenezer Parkman and Breck Parkman
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
Additions to Miscellaneous Writings:
- “Natalitia” Notebook – 1727-1782 – digitized by New England’s Hidden Histories of the Congregational Church Library & Archive. Brief (generally, one or two page) memoranda written by Parkman on the occasion of his birthday and usually assessing his spiritual state and relationships to God.
November 29, 2021
Additions to Westborough and Its People during Parkman’s Time:
Westborough “In the News”
The following articles about Westborough appeared in newspaper published during Parkman’s time.
- Accident-Isaac Miller Loses Hand in Mill Accident, 1753
- Aggrieved Tanners, 1777
- Attacked When Returning from Westborough to Brookfield, 1764
- Death by Gunshot, 1737
- Death of Adam Holloway, December 22, 1732
- Death of Samuel Johns, 1782
- Fire – Alpheus Newton’s House, December 17, 1753
- Fire – Barn Struck by Lightning, Westborough, July 21, 1743
- James Baker, Deserter, 1782
- Joseph Baker’s Remarkable Ox, 1773
- Lost Pocket Book, 1778
- Multiple Births from Same Ewe, 1772
- Ordination of Asaph Rice, Westminster, October 16, 1765
- Ordination of Caleb Rice., New-Medfield [Sturbridge], September 29, 1736
- Stray Colt, 1776
- Stray Mare from Parkman’s Pasture, 1778
- Strayed or Stolen-Benjamin Wood’s Horse, 1775
- To Be Sold-House and Land, 1761
- “Beals Eliza or Elizabeth” (revised)
Added “Have a Question about Parkman or Westborough?” feature in the right-hand column.
November 24, 2021
Additions to Scholarship on Parkman:
- “‘Divine Judgments upon us’ – Responding to the Throat Distemper in Westborough, Massachusetts” – You can also watch Prof. Beales read this paper here.
Additions to Diary Themes: Topics:
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
November 22, 2021
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
Addition to Sermons:
- 1740: Sermons on Micah 6:9 (On Throat Distemper) – Introduction and transcription by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
- Update to Index to the Sermons of Ebenezer Parkman of Westborough – a complete accounting of extent sermons, created by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
November 18, 2021
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
Native Americans:
- Abimaleck, Deborah – having a Child Dead in their Wigwam, 1746
- Asbo, Samuel – with the rest of his Friends make a Wigwam in the Swamp. 1771
- Becom, Martha
- Bimeleck (or Esther David) – death, 1776
- Bimelock, Betty – sad News of…Murdering her Child about six weeks old, 1755
- Bumpso, Samuel (d. 1756)
- A petition from Benjamin Wiser, May 31, 1758, relating to the estate of Samuel Bumso (Harvard): https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:422116544$33i
- Chowin, John – an Indian or rather Molatto – death of infant child, 1772
- Cole, Ezekiel
- Crew of Indians with a Violin 1747
- An indian Girl in great Distress for her Brother, 1743
- John, Sam – found Dead on Turkey Hill, 1782
- Lawrence, Hannah (Indian) – funeral, Grafton, 1772
- Misco, Christian (widow of old George Misco) died, 1746
- Misco, Joshua and his Squa howed Parkman’s corn, 1726
- Monanaow, David – tells Parkman he was 104 last Indian Harvest, 1737
- Read, Peggy (from Woodstock) – ill but wandered off, 1756
- Speen, Betty – married Mrs. Surcomb’s Negro, Caesar, 1775
- Wigwam
Addition to Useful Resources for Researching Parkman and Westborough:
- The Massachusetts Tax Valuation List of 1771 (Harvard) – names and descriptions of taxable property in Westborough in 1771. (Image of one of the pages from the 1771 Tax List.)
November 17, 2021
Addition to Scholarship on Parkman:
- Mutschler, Ben. The Province of Affliction: Illness and the Making of Early New England. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020. Mutschler makes extensive use of Parkman.
Additions to Diary Themes: Topics:
- Charitable Contributions – Table (including entries from the Westborough Church Records)
Additions to Miscellaneous Writings:
- Natalitia – 1781-1782 – a mix of introspection and observations on Parkman’s own situation and sometimes that of others. Transcription by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
Additions to The People of Westborough During Parkman’s Time:
- Enslaved Persons
- Enslaved Persons in Westborough 1754 – Westborough’s response to the 1754 Massachusetts slave census.
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
- Captives and Captivity
- Sanford David (1737-1810) Yale 1755 minister of Medway
- Batherick Solomon (1746-1824)
- Lawrence Benjamin (1713-1767) and Jane (Russell) Lawrence (1711-1786)
- Barns Francis (1752-1813)
- Trask
- Bowman Benjamin (1761-1828)
- Hicks, James (1765-1837_)
- Moulton, John
- Harback, Henry
- Maynard, Stephen (1759-1806)
- Bryant, Timothy (b. 1763)
- Lambson, Reuben (b. 1755)
- Parker, Ephraim (1757-1810)
Additions to Diary Themes: Topics:
November 15, 2021
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
Additions to Diary Themes: Animals, Crops, Food:
Additions to Diary Themes: Topics:
Added link to the AAS Catalog Record for The Parkman Family Papers, 1707-1879: http://www.ebenezerparkman.org/parkman-manuscript-holdings/.
Addition to Useful Resources for Researching Parkman and Westborough: Parkman Almanac Notes.
Addition to Miscellaneous Writings: Cold Spring (Belchertown), 1760 – records of a council at Cold Spring (Belchertown).
Addition of link to the Colonial Society of Massachusetts’s version of the Westborough Church Records: http://www.ebenezerparkman.org/westborough-church-records/.
November 1, 2021
Redesign of the EPP’s main website to improve navigation: http://www.ebenezerparkman.org/.
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
Addition to Works By and Relating to the Parkman Family:
- “Parkman Almanac Notes.” The “Old Northwest” Genealogical Quarterly 10 (Oct. 1907), 343-51.
June 10, 2020
Addition of the year 1736, which had been in editorial development, to the Diary.
April 27, 2020
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
Additions to Diary Themes: Topics:
April 16, 2020
Addition to The People of Westborough During Parkman’s Time:
- Coddington, Mehetable
April 9, 2020
Additions to Diary Themes: Topics:
- Medical
Additions to Diary Themes: People:
