Explanations of the Vital Records of Wenham, MA

EXPLANATIONS

The following records of births, marriages and deaths include all entries to be found in the books of record kept by the town clerks; in the church records; in the returns made to the Salem Quarterly Court; in the cemetery inscriptions; and in several private records found in family Bibles. These records are printed in a condensed form in which every essential particular has been preserved. All duplication of the town clerk's record has been eliminated, but differences in entry and other explanatory matter appear in brackets. Parentheses are used when they occur in the original record; also to show the difference in the spelling of a name in the same entry and to indicate the maiden name of a wife.

When places other than Wenham and Massachusetts are named in the original records, they are given in the printed copy. Marriages and intentions of marriages are printed under the names of both parties. Double-dating is used in the months of January, February and March, prior to 1752, whenever it appears in the original and also whenever from the sequence of entry in the original the date may be easily determined. In all records the original spelling of names is followed, and in the alphabetical arrangement the various forms should be examined, as items about the same family may be found under different spellings.

**ABBREVIATIONS**
a	age	inf	infant
abt	about	int	intention of marriage
b	born	jr	junior
bef	before	m	male; married; month
bp	baptized	rec	recorded
ch	child	s	son
chn	children	sr	senior
Co	county	unm	unmarried
CTR	court record, Essex Co. Quarterly Court	w	wife
d	daughter; day; died	wid	widow
Dea	deacon	widr	widower
dup	duplicate entry	y	year
h	husband

**CHURCH RECORDS**
CR	church record

**CEMETERY RECORDS**
GR1	Old Cemetery
GR2	Fairfield Burying Ground

**PRIVATE RECORDS**
(Bibles, Family records, Etc.)
PR1	Record from family register, now in possession of Mrs. Lydia E. Jones
PR2	Record from sampler wrought by Sally Lee Dodge, now in possession of the widow of Daniel E. Homan
PR3	Bible record belonging to Theodore Dodge of Tamworth, NH, now in possession of Miss Bessie F. Dodge
PR4	Record from sampler wrought by Mary Ann Dodge, now in possession of her daughter, Mrs. Mary Ann Stanley
PR5	Record now in possession of Benjamin H. Conant
PR6	Bible recrod now in possession of John W. Higgins
PR7	Bible record now in possession of John K. Dodge
PR8	Bible record now in possession of George Eustis Perkins
PR9	Bible record now in possession of Miss Martha Dodge
PR10	Bible record now in possession of Miss Frances E. Dodge