Westborough and Its People during Parkman’s Time

This page offers biographical information, relations, confessions, and other documents relating to some of the people who lived in and around Westborough during the time that Rev. Ebenezer Parkman was alive. These profiles provide a context for better understanding the interactions between Westborough and Parkman. The page also includes vital statistics that go beyond the traditional Vital Records to 1850 volume for Westborough (see “Counting Deaths in Eighteenth-Century Westborough” by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.) and newspaper articles about Westborough that appeared during Parkman’s time.

You can learn more about Westborough, its people, and its environs by visiting the following Diary Themes: People; Topics; and Animals, Crops, and Food. Also see Historical Resources for Researching Parkman and Westborough and Scholarship on Parkman to learn more about Westborough and its people during this time.

Page Index:

The People of Westborough
Vital Statistics beyond Vital Records to 1850
Westborough “In the News”

The People of Westborough

This list includes only a subsection of the many people whom Parkman mentioned in his diary. Visit the Diary Themes: People or use the search function for the diary to discover more names of people who appear in Parkman’s diary.

Reconstitution Data for Westborough Families – Compiled by Prof. Ross w. Beales, Jr. – This document gathers information about people who lived in Westborough in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries from a variety of sources: published vital records of Westborough (WVR) and other towns; Ebenezer Parkman’s and Breck Parkman’s diaries; the Westborough church records; genealogies; town histories; probate records; newspapers; and data from the websites of AmericanAncestors.org and Ancestry.com.
Table of Extant Relations Presented to the Westborough Church – Compiled by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr. – Includes links to digitized relations available online.
Warnings Out of Town – 1767 – Westborough Town Records p . 452 – Transcribed by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.

Ball, Benjamin and Lucy (Belknap)
- “Benjamin and Lucy (Belknap) Ball”
- Ball, Benjamin – Relation
- Ball, Lucy – Relation
Barns, Richard
- Barns, Richard – Confession
Bathrick, Jonathan and Abigail
- “Jonathan and Abigail (Battle) Bathrick” – by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.
Bathrick, Lydia (Maynard)
- “Lydia (Maynard) Bathrick”
Beals, Eliza or Elizabeth
- “Beals Eliza or Elizabeth”
- Beals, Elizabeth – Relation, 1764
Beeman, Eleazer
- “Eleazer Beeman “
Bellows, Judith
- “It was a Day of great Temptation”: Judith Bellows and the Process of Discipline in the Westborough Church, 1754-1761″
- Bellows, Judith – Confession, 1761
Bradish, Mary
- “The Exceptional Mary Bradish”
- Bradish, Mary – Confession, 1735
- Bradish, Mary – Letter, 1742
Brigham, Antipas
- Brigham, Antipas – Relation
- Brigham, Antipas – Relations (1785) – DeForest
Brigham, Edmund
- Brigham, Edmund – Relation
Brigham, Elizabeth
- Brigham, Elizabeth – Relation
Brigham, Esther
- Brigham, Esther – Relation
Brigham, Gershom, Jr.
- Brigham, Gershom Jr. – Relation
Brigham, Gershom, 3rd
- Brigham, Gershom, 3rd – Relation
Brigham, Hepzibah
- Brigham, Hepzibah – Relation
Brigham, Sarah
- Brigham, Sarah – Relation
Broaders, Catharine
- Broaders, Catharine – Confession
- Broaders, Catharine – Relation
Buck, Ruth
- Buck, Ruth – Confession
- Buck, Ruth – Relation
- Buck Ruth – in the Westborough Town Records
- Folktale Friday: Ruth Buck, the “Witch of Westborough” (Forbes and History)
Coddington, Mehetable
- Coddington, Mehetable – Maid Servant
Crosby, Hepzibah
- “Hepzibah Crosby (1727-1797)”
- Crosby, Hepzibah – Relation, 1749
Dexter, Samuel
- Dexter, Samuel – Declines a Call to Become Westborough’s First Minster
Entwishill, Mindwell
- Entwishill, Mindwell – Confession and Relation, 1784 – version 1
- Entwishill, Mindwell – Confession and Relation – version 2
Fay, Samuel
- Fay, Samuel – Confession
Forbush, Eli
- Forbush, Eli – Letter, 1744
Frost, Ruhumah
- Frost, Ruhamah – Relation
Hardy, Jemima
- Hardy, Jemima – Widow Jemima Hardy and Her Children
Hawes, James
- Hawes, James – Confession
Kidney, John
- Kidney, John – John Kidney’s ‘Rude and Vile Conduct’
Lealand, Mehitabel
- Lealand, Mehitable – Relation
Maynard, Hephzibah
- Maynard, Hephzibah – The Maynard Jacket
Metcalf, Pelatiah
- “Who Was Pelatiah Metcalf”
Miller, Elisabeth
- Miller, Elisabeth – Relation
Miller, Fortunatus
- Miller, Fortunatus – Relation
Miller, Huldah
- Miller, Huldah – Relation
Morse, Sarah (Warrin)
- “Sarah (Warrin) Morse: Mental Illness and Suicide in Eighteenth-Century Westborough”
Nurse, Sarah
- Nurse, Sarah – Relation
Palmer, Martha
- Palmer Martha – Warned Out of Westborough, 1760 – Town Records
Parkman, William
- Parkman, William – Relation
Rice, Priscilla
- Rice, Priscilla – Confession
Robbins, Eleanor
- Robbins, Eleanor – Relation
Robbins, Joseph
- Robbins, Joseph – Relation
Warrin, Levi and Deborah
- “Levi and Deborah Warrin: Fornication or a Premature Birth?”
Wheelock, Abigail
- Wheelock, Abigail – Relation
Wood, Benjamin and Sarah (Johnson)
- “Benjamin Wood’s Fornication: From Sin to Confession in 18th-Century Westborough, Massachusetts”

Vital Statistics beyond Vital Records to 1850

(See “Counting Deaths in Eighteenth-Century Westborough” by Prof. Ross W. Beales, Jr.)

Enslaved Persons in Westborough 1754 – Westborough’s response to the 1754 Massachusetts slave census
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
Under-Registration of Female Births, Westborough

Take the Marriages by Day of the Week-Quiz, based on data from Vital Records to 1850 for Westborough.

Westborough “In the News”

The following articles about Westborough appeared in newspapers published during Parkman’s time.