Starting in 1620 with the Plymouth Council, Mr. Gilbert works his way slowly and thoroughly through New England’s early history, southern New Hampshire in particular, the topography of the town of Salem and its villages and the story of the town’s settlement and development: Salem’s ecclesiastical history, civil and political history, educational matters, military history, historical tales, and more. But, unlike many such town histories, Gilbert has not forgotten the hard genealogical information. There are lists of taxpayers, soldiers, and members of societies. Even better is the enumeration (with maps) of 653 sites of houses, stores, and mills, giving a short history of each with the names of original and subsequent owners. This is followed by a biographical and genealogical chapter covering the following surnames: Abbott, Ayer, Bailey, Buxton, Cate, Cole, Crowell, Davis, Duston, Gordon, Hall, Kimball, Pulver, Sikorsky, Soule, Taylor, Thom, Wheeler, Wilson, and Woodbury.
The last part of the book consists of three tables, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, drawn mostly from the town records and including dates as early as 1760. The table of Birth records (3600 entries) gives, in alphabetical order, the date of birth, the names of the child and the father and the mother’s maiden name. The Marriages table (1500 entries) gives the date and the names, ages and place of origin of both the bride and groom. The table of Death records (1120 entries), finally, gives the date, name and age (in years, months and days) of the deceased plus his or her father’s name. There is an index of full names and an index of subjects. The whole is enlivened with fifty-six portraits, sixty-four photographs of houses and farms, and sixty-four ‘miscellaneous views’ plus eleven maps and charts.
Edgar Gilbert
(1907), 1993, paper, 2 volumes, 872 pp.
ISBN: 9781556137679
101-G0767
