AmericanAncestors.org, the online database of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, has seen significant recent uploads to its Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 collection.
The new additions come from six parishes: St Joseph's, St Augustine's, St Stephen's, St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain), Immaculate Conception (Newburyport), and Holy Family (Rockland). As you'd expect from Roman Catholic records from Boston, they are crammed full of Irish-born men and women and their descendants. The genealogical details in the records varies, with more modern entries generally being more informative.
St Joseph's Parish
This parish is in the West End. It has been serving Roman Catholics for more than 250 years but surviving records date only from 1862. Previously, only baptism records were available in the AmericanAncestors database. While the baptism records can be found in both the searchable collection and the 'image-only' (browse) database, the new additions from marriage and confirmation registers are presently available only in the browsable database. The newly-added registers are:
St. Joseph (Boston) Confirmations, 1895-1900
St. Joseph (Boston) Marriages, 1862-1884
St. Joseph (Boston) Marriages, 1884-1893
St. Joseph (Boston) Marriages, 1893-1899
St. Joseph (Boston) Marriages, 1899-1900
St Augustine's Parish
Located in South Boston, this parish dates to 1819, although its earliest registers date only from 1868. Eight volumes have joined both the searchable and the browse-only database, as follows:
St. Augustine (South Boston) Baptisms, 1868-1883
St. Augustine (South Boston) Baptisms, 1883-1894
St. Augustine (South Boston) Baptisms, 1894-1899
St. Augustine (South Boston) Baptisms, 1899-1900
St. Augustine (South Boston) Confirmations, 1896-1900
St. Augustine (South Boston) First Communions, 1895
St. Augustine (South Boston) Marriages, 1868-1899
St. Augustine (South Boston) Marriages, 1900-1900
St. Stephen's Parish
Twelve volumes of registers from St Stephen's Parish in Boston's North End are now searchable and browsable on Americanancestors. The new volumes include:
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms and Marriages, 1842-1845
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms, 1846-1853
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms, 1854-1862
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms, 1862-1870
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms, 1870-1877
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms, 1877-1882
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms, 1883-1889
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms, 1889-1900
St. Stephen (Boston) Baptisms, 1900
St. Stephen (Boston) Confirmations and First Communions, 1875-1930
St. Stephen (Boston) Marriages, 1846-1872
St. Stephen (Boston) Marriages, 1872-1900
Holy Family (Rockland), Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) and St Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain) Parishes
These three parishes have delivered 17 volumes and over 3,000 new pages to the browse database. They have not yet joined the searchable database. The images uploaded are of the following registers:
Holy Family (Rockland) Baptisms, 1883-1900
Holy Family (Rockland) Marriages, 1883-1900
Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) Baptisms, 1854-1871
Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) Baptisms, 1872-1882
Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) Baptisms, 1883-1890
Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) Baptisms, 1891-1900
Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) Confirmations, 1882-1900
Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) First Communions, 1871-1900
Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) Marriages, 1852-1871
Immaculate Conception (Newburyport) Marriages, 1872-1900
St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain) Index to Baptisms, 1869-1900
St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain) Baptisms and Confirmations, 1869-1884 (Vol. 1)
St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain) Baptisms, 1885-1893 (Vol. 2)
St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain) Baptisms, 1893-1900 (Vol. 3)
St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain) Confirmations, 1869-1900
St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain) First Communions, 1899-1900
St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain) Marriages, 1869-1900
Indexed and searchable databases in the Massachusetts: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records, 1789-1900 collection (see link above) are available to Individual-level and above NEHGS members only.
Non-members can create a free guest account to browse the image-only version of the database. See the how-to video below.
Video removed 3 November 2023.