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This report is extracted from the 1000 Section (Confirmed Newspaper Indexes) of the 1979-1980 Edition of LATHROP REPORT ON NEWSPAPER INDEXES: An illustrated guide to published and unpublished newspaper indexes in the United States and Canada.   Either a compiler, publisher or repository had confirmed the existance of this index and supplied information for the report. See the INTRODUCTION for the methodology used in compiling the LATHROP REPORT.
REPORT NO:  1003B Previous Report (1003A)  |  Next Report (1003C)
INDEX NAME:  Index of Marriages in Massachusetts Centinel and Columbian Centinel, 1784-1840
NEWSPAPERS INDEXED:
  • MASSACHUSETTS CENTINEL Boston MA 1784-1790
  • COLUMBIAN CENTINEL Boston MA 1790-1840
COMPILER:  Compiled under the supervision of the American Antiquarian Society with indexing and typing performed by WPA workers.
LOCATION or PUBLISHER: AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
185 Salisbury St.
Worcester MA 01609
Telephone: (617) 755-5221
AVAILABILITY:  Copies of the index are available from G.K. Hall & Co. (70 Lincoln St., Boston MA 02111). Write for prices. The index and copies of the newspaper are available for public research at the American Antiquarian Society and the Boston Public Library.
SCOPE OF INDEX:  The index is a record of marriages reported in the two Boston newspapers. The index is arranged in one alphabetical order and each marriage is listed twice, once under the husband's name and once under the wife's name. Few marriages were recorded in the early period and it was not until the late 1790's that even a half dozen marriages were listed in each semi-weekly issue of the newspaper. However, from 1800 to 1840 the number increased, reaching about twenty marriage announcements per week. The value of this list lies in the fact that the Centinel copied marriage records from all the newspapers which they received from other parts of the country. As a result, a considerable number of marriage records are found for states in the south and west, as well as on the Atlantic seaboard. Of the 80,000 names recorded, about 27% are of Boston, 40% of Massachusetts outside Boston, 16% of New England outside of Massachusetts and 17% of the rest of the country beyond New England.
FORMAT OF INDEX:  There are twelve original typed and bound volumes. In the four volume published edition from G.K. Hall & Co., there are 4,131 pages. Personal names are arrainged alphabetically. Each entry is generally a repetition of what was in the newspaper, which was not usually longer than a line or two. Information given includes name of spouse and place of marriage. The citation includes a code for the newspaper plus the month, day and year.
SIZE OF INDEX:  Nearly 80,000 names representing 40,000 marriages.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Anita Cheek Milner. NEWSPAPER INDEXES: A LOCATION & SUBJECT GUIDE FOR RESEARCHERS. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen NJ, 1977.
SAMPLE ILLUSTRATION:  A sample page from the "A" section is included.
    (Click this link to view the original report, including any accompanying illustration)

LATHROP REPORT ON NEWSPAPER INDEXES. 1979-1980 Edition. Copyright © 1979 by Norman Lathrop Enterprises. ISBN 0-910868-10-7. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior expressed permission of Norman Lathrop Enterprises, except as permitted by law.   Every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of the report at the time of publication.   However, it is imperative that the user contact the organization cited in a report for the current status of the index, especially if planning to visit the institution and do research using the index.