Boxford

Transcriptions from the parish registers of Boxford St. Mary by Helen Barrell. You can also search them on FreeREG.

Notes

  • Gaps in the register:
    • No baptisms 1610, 1629, 1698, 1701 to 1703, 1707, 1713. Two baptisms only 1711. Possible gap from Sept to Dec 1686.
    • Missing baptisms 1655, 1656 (register numbers have been entered for all baptisms, but some baptisms missing), few baptisms 1660 (only 8 entered – usually there are 20 or more)
    • No burials 1610, 1629, 1660, 1694, 1698 to 1703, 1707, 1710-1711, 1713, 1726. Possible gaps March to June 1697, June to Oct 1704.
    • No marriages 1610, 1629, 1652, 1653, 1660, 1673, 1686, 1689, 1692, 1694, 1699-1704, 1707, 1709-1711, 1713.
  • Parents’ names aren’t given in the baptism register: 1688, 1695, 1704
  • Missed page on the microfilm: baptisms January-March 1629/30, all marriages for 1629, and burials March-December 1629 cannot be transcribed at the moment.
  • Commonwealth marriages: many more marriages in 1654 (33), performed by Justices of the Peace. This includes several couples from nearby parishes eg Groton and Edwardstone. Perhaps no marriages are recorded in those parishes for that year as they were recorded in Boxford.
  • Entries for 1705 have faded so much on the microfiche as to be almost completely illegible, especially for baptisms. Digital images or the original register might be clearer.
  • On 22nd January 1608/9, three children – a girl and two boys – were baptised. The three fathers were all called Richard, and the two boys were both christened as Richard!
  • Epidemic 1625-1626: there are usually 20-30 burials a year, but from January 1625/6 to July 1626 burials dramatically increase. In that period, 70 people were buried in Boxford (14 in April and 18 in May, 13 in June, and 10 in July). This is perhaps the 1626 flu pandemic (which had spread to North America by 1627), although other sources say plague was about in summer 1626, which killed over 35,000 people in London alone. Bear in mind that at the time “plague” could mean any fast-spreading illness, not necessarily bubonic or pneumonic plague. – it could, therefore, be flu.

Baptisms

Burials

Marriages

1557-1672

1674-1753