NOTES REGARDING BIRTH INDICES
The birth indices are drawn from the book Births Vol. 1 1725-1844 Holliston on file in the Town Clerk’s office.
The first page of that book contains the following entry:
The names in this Book were transcribed from Original Records of Births Vol 1-2 + 3, which were in a defaced and mutilated condition, by order of the Board of Selectmen of Holliston for 1864-5. The original documents have been placed on file in the office of the Town Clerk of said Town.
– John M. Batchelder, Town Clerk
Holliston, March 1st 1865
The book contains only one entry for 1844. That entry has been omitted from the indices. It will be included in any subsequent indices covering the year 1844. There is one entry from 1724 in the book and it has been included in the indices.
The entries in the indices were transcribed from the original handwritten cursive records in the referenced book. Best efforts were made to discern the spelling of each entry and faithfully record them in the indices. However, in some few cases, guesses or assumptions were made.
The book contains column headings for Number, Date of Birth, Name of the Child, Sex, Color, Condition, Place of Birth, Names of Parents, Residence of Parents, Occupation of Father, Birthplace of Father, Birthplace of Mother, Informant, and Date of Record. The book has entries for Date of Birth, Name of the Child, Place of Birth, Names of Parents, and Residence of Parents. The names of parents are not recorded separately; they are recorded as one entry with first names and one last name, e.g. “William & Sarah Fisk.” The book reveals that all but three of the children were born to parents living in Holliston and that all but 57 of the births took place in Holliston. In a few cases, “Illegitimate” is indicated in the Condition column. There are only two entries in the Occupation of Father, Birthplace of Father, and Birthplace of Mother columns. There are no entries in the Informant and Date of Record columns. In the interest of time and space, the indices include the information for Date of Birth, Name of the Child, and Names of Parents.
The indices are set up with columns for Child Last Names, Child First Name, Child Middle Name, Birth Year, Birth Month, Birth Day, Father’s First Name, Mother’s First Name. In all but two cases, the Child Last Name matches the last name shown for the parents. The two exceptions indicate that the Child Last Name matches the Father’s last name. Where twins were noted in the book, they are also noted in the indices (in the Child Middle Name column). The few notations of “Illegitimate” were also recorded in the indices (again in the Child Middle Name Column).