Hanover, Plymouth County, Massachusetts Genealogy

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Guide to Hanover, Plymouth County, Massachusetts ancestry, genealogy and family history, town histories, vital records, city directories, cemetery records and cemeteries, churches, town records, newspapers, maps, and libraries.

Town Information

Description

The area of Hanover was first settled in 1649 when it was part of Scituate in Plymouth Colony. The area was placed in Plymouth County when counties were formed in 1685. For a brief time, the area was part of the Dominion of New England from 1686 to 1689. The area is still in Plymouth County, though was in limbo, until the "Colony" was merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691 that became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The area was set off from Scituate and some parts from Abington in 1727.

Parent Towns

Populated Places

Includes Neighborhoods, Villages, Unincorporated Communities,
Districts, and Census-Designated Places:

Boundary Changes

Adjacent Towns

Plymouth Co: Hanson | Norwell | Pembroke | Rockland

Town Records

In New England most original vital records of birth, marriage, and death can be found at the town clerk's office

Hanover Town Clerk

550 Hanover Street
Hanover, MA 02339
Phone: 781-826-5000 x 1079
Fax: 781-826-5239
Email: catherine.harderbernier@hanover-ma.gov
Website

Vital Records

Published records
Online records
  • Hanover town and vital records, 1712-1779, are browsable (i.e. not indexed as of Nov. 2012) on FamilySearch.

Births

Marriages

Deaths

Divorce

Town Reports

Resources

For more County and State resources see:

Biographies

Cemeteries

The following is a list of cemeteries in present-day Hanover. For location of cemeteries, see PlymouthColony website. For more details regarding these cemeteries, see the state guide under cemeteries for books on the subject.

  1. Assinippi Cemetery, 1789. (A)
  2. Darling Cemetery, 1829.
  3. Hanover Center Cemetery, 1727. (A, B)
  4. Hatch Family Cemetery, 18th Century. Note: Plowed up in the 19th century.
  5. Hobart Cemetery, 1793. (A)
  6. Union Cemetery, 1794.

Abstracts of the cemeteries above are marked and keyed to:
(A). Charles M. Thatcher, Old Cemeteries of Southeastern Massachusetts (Middleborough, Mass., 1995). WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.4 V3.
(B). L. Vernon Briggs, ed.,History and Records of the First Congregational Church, Hanover, Mass., 1727-1865, and Inscriptions from the Headstones and Tombs in the Cemetery at Centre Hanover, Mass., 1727-1894, being volume I of the Church and Cemetery Records of Hanover, Mass. (Boston, 1895), vi, 316 pp. Internet Archive and Google Books.

Census

Church Records

The following is a list of churches established in town in order of organization date (if known) and condition of records in the 1889 survey if listed.

  1. First Congregational Church of Hanover [United Church of Christ], 1728, records good.
    L. Vernon Briggs, ed.,History and Records of the First Congregational Church, Hanover, Mass., 1727-1865, and Inscriptions from the Headstones and Tombs in the Cemetery at Centre Hanover, Mass., 1727-1894, being volume I of the Church and Cemetery Records of Hanover, Mass. (Boston, 1895), vi, 316 pp.
    Digital versions at Internet Archive and Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); 974.482/H3 K2b or film 1425526 Item 5.
  2. St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church (now called St. Andrew's Episcopal Church), 1780, no condition given. [Note: Church in Scituate from 1731 to 1811.]
    L. Vernon Briggs, ed., History and Records of St. Andrew's Protestant Episcopal Church, of Scituate, Mass., 1725-181, of Hanover, Mass., 1811-1903, and other items of historical interest, being Volume II of the church and cemetery records of Hanover, Mass. ([Boston], 1904), ix, 188 pp.
    Digital version at Google Books.
    WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.482/H3 K2bL.
  3. Baptist Church, 1806, records good.
  4. Methodist Episcopal Church, 1850, no condition given.
  5. Second Congregational Church, Four Corners, 1854, records good.
  6. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church (now called St. Mary of the Sacred Heart Church), n.d., no condition given.
  7. Lutheran Church of the Cross, 1961.
  8. Fellowship Baptist Church, 1984.
  9. Coastal Church, n.d.
  10. Living Hope Foursquare Church, n.d.

City Directories

Hanover was published in 1892, 1898, 1902, 1904, 1911/2, 1919 (usually under Rockland).


The Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.) has one of the largest collections of city directories in the country. They are likely to own most of the years listed above. Their collection is in microfiche, microfilm, and books, but there is no online inventory of their holdings except for microfilm. See their guide online.

Other holdings:

Compiled Genealogies

Court Records

Immigration

Land Records

Local Histories

The basic data is from the "Historical Data" publication series[1] with additions from various sources.

Associated names

Village or section names include Assinippi, Curtis Crossing, Drinkwater, Hanover Center, Hanover Four Corners, Mann's Corner, North Hanover, South Hanover, West Hanover, and Winslow's Crossing.

Border changes
Dates Events
14 June 1727 Established as a new town from parts of Abington and mostly from Scituate. [Prov. Laws, 2: 429]
6 Mar. 1835 Border between Hanover and Pembroke established.
15 May 1857 Border between Hanover and South Scituate (now Norwell) established.
11 Feb. 1878 Border between Hanover and South Scituate (now Norwell) established and part of each town annexed to the other town.
23 Mar. 1878 Border between Hanover and Rockland established and part of each town annexed to the other town.
23 Apr. 1885 Border between Hanover and Pembroke established.

Works written on the town include:

  • John Stetson Barry, A Historical Sketch of the Town of Hanover, Mass., with Family Genealogies (Boston, 1853), v, 448.
Digital versions at Internet Archive, Google Books, and on Ancestry ($).
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.482/H3 H2b or film 1425589 Item 2.
The family sketches include the families: Bailey, Baldwin, Barrell, Barry, Barstow, Bates, Beal, Benner, Binney, Blanchard, Bonney, Bowker, Briggs, Brook, Burgess, Cary, Chaddock, Chamberlain, Chandler, Chapman, Church, Clark, Corthell, Crooker, Curtis, Cushing, Cutler, Damon, Darling, Davis, Dawes, Delano, Dill, Doten, Donnell, Dunbar, Duncan, Dwelley, Dyer, Eells, Ellis, Estes, Farnham/Farnum, Foster, Gardner, Garrett, Goodrich, Groce/Gross, Gurney, Hall, Hammond, Harding, Henderson, Hersey, Hollis, Holmes, House, Howland, Jacobs, Josselyn/Joslin, Killam, Lindsey, Litchfield, Little, Magoun, Mann, McLauthlin, Morse, Munroe, Nash, Percival, Perkins, Perry, Peterson, Phillips, Pocorny, Pool, Pratt, Prouty, Puffer, Ramsdell, Randall, Reed, Rice, Richards, Ripley, Robbins, Rogers, Rose, Russell, Salmond, Sampson/Samson, Simmons, Slason, Smith, Soper, Soule, sprague, Stetson, Stockbridge, Stoddard, Studley, Sturtevant, Sylvester, Taylor, Thayer, Thomas, Thompson, Torrey, Tower, Tubbs, Turner, Vinal, Vining, Wade, Wardrobe, White, Whitwell, Whiton/Whiting, Wilder, Winslow, Wolcott, Wood, Woodman, and Wright.
  • Jedediah Dwelley and John F. Simmons, History of the Town of Hanover, Massachusetts, with Family Genealogies ([Hanover, Mass.], 1910, 291, 474 pp.
Digital version at Internet Archive.
WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.482/H3 H2d or fiche 6048973 (with digital link).
The family sketches found in the second half of the book include the families: Adams, Ahearn, Alger, Allen, Anderson, Andrews, Appleford, Arnold, Bacon, Bagan, Bailey, Baker, Baldwin, Balleaster, Banister, Banks, Barker, Barrell, Barry, Barstow, Bass, Bates, Beal, Benner, Binney, Bisbee, Bishop, Blanchard, Bonney, Bourne, Bowers, Bowker, Bray, Breck, Brewster, Briggs, Brooks, Brooks, Brouthers, Brown, Bruce, Bryant, Buffum, Burbank, Burgess, Burpee, Burrell, Butler, Callaghan, Campbell, Carey, Cashman, Chaddock, Chamberlain, Chapman, Cheney, Christie, Chubbuck, Church, Churchill, Clapp, Clark, Cobbett, Cole, Collingwood, Condon, Cook, Cooley, Cooper, Corbin, Corlew, Corthell, Crane, Crocker, Crook, Crosby, Cross, Cudworth, Cummings, Curtis, Cushing, Cushman, Cutler, Dagan, Dame, Damon, Darling, Davenport, Davis, Dawes, Day, Deane, Delay, Dillingham, Disbrow, Donnell, Donnelly, Donovan, Dowden, Downes, Downing, Drew, dunbar, Duncan, Dwelley, Dyer, Ednie, Eells, Elliot, Ellis, Ernest, Estes, Everett, Everson, Farnham/Farnum, Farrar, Farrell, Finney, Fish, Fisher, Fitzgerald, Flavell, Flynn, Ford, Forsythe, Foster, Freeman, French, Fuller, Gallagher, Gannett, Gardner, Gates, Gay, Gerrish, Gibson, Gilman, Gleason, Gooch, Goodrich, Gray, Green, Griffin, Grose, Gurney, Guth, Hackett, Hall, Hamilton, Hammond, Handy, Haney, Hansen/Hanson, Hardy, Harlow, Harnden, Harraden, Harris, Harvey, Hatch, Havens, Hayes, Hawward, Head, Henderson, Henry, Hersey, Hicks, Hill, Hinckley, Hines, Hoban, Hobill, Holbrook, Hollis, Holmes, House, Howard, Howes, Howland, Hunt, Hurley, Hussey, Inglis, Iris, Jacobs, Jewett, Johnson, Jones, Josselyn, Joyce, Kane, Keene, Keith, Kenney, Kiley, Killam, Kingman, Kirby, Knight, Lafountain, Lambert, Langdon, Lantz, Lapham, Larkum, Leavitt, Leggett, Leonard, Letourneaux, Levings, Lindsey/Lindsay, Litchfield, Little, Lovice, Lowell, Lucas, Luther, MacDonald, MacMillan, Maglathlin, Magoun, Mann, Marsh, Massey, McClary, McCloskey, McDonough, McDougal, McEnroe, McLauthlin, McLean, McNayr, Merrill, Millet, Morehardt, Morel, Morse, Mullin, Munroe, Murphy, Nash, Nelson, Nichols, Nielson, Niles, Oakman, O'Connell, Oldham, Olson, Orcutt, Overton, Packard, Paine, Plamer, Pardy, Parkinson, Paulding, Paxton, Peaslee, Percival, Perkins, Perry, Peterson, Phillips, Phinney, Pinson, Pocorny, Poole, Pope, Power, Pratt, Prentice, Priest, Prince, Prouty, Puffer, Purchase, Putnam, Ramsdell/Ramsden, Randall, Reed, Richardson, Richmond, Ridgeway, Ripley, Robbins, Robinson, Rogers, Rome, Rose, Rothmund, Russell, Ryder, Salmond, Sampson/Samson, Schofield, Scholz, Scott, Shean, Shepherd, Sherman, Sides, Simmons, Slade, Slatcher, Smith, Snell, Soper, Soule, Spaulding, Spear, Spiller, Sprague, Sproul, Standish, Stearns, Stetson, Stockbridge, Stoddard, Stone, Struthers, Studley, Sturtevant, Sutherland, Sweeney, Sylvester, Taylor, Thayer, Thomas, Thompson, Tilden, Tindale, Tobey, Todd, Tolman, Torrey, Totman, Tower, Tribble, Tribou, Tripp, Tubbs, Tuck, Tucker, Turner, Vail, Ventres, Vinal, Vining, Wade, Walker, Wardrobe, Warner, Waterman, White, Whiting, Whitman, Whitmarsh, Whittaker, Whyman, Wild, Wilder, Williams, Willis, Wing, Winslow, Winsor, Witt, Wolcott, Wood, Woodman, Wright, and Young.

Maps

This selection incudes town, county, state, and historical maps

Migration

Military

Some Records are Searchable by Town

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

For more Revolutionary War Military Records see:

Civil War, 1861-1865

For more Civil War Military Records see:

World War I, 1917-1918

For more World War I Military Records see:

World War II, 1941-1945

For more World War II Military Records see:

Newspapers

  1. Hanover Branch and Norwell News, 1964-1965-present.
  2. Hanover Mariner, 1983-present.

Obituaries

Other Town Records

Probate Records

School Records

Tax Records

Websites

Research Facilities

Archives

Libraries

John Curtis Free Library
534 Hanover Street
Hanover MA 02339
Phone 781-826-2972

Museums

FamilySearch Centers & Affiliate Libraries

FamilySearch Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local FamilySearch Centers or Affiliate Libraries

  • FamilySearch Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
  • FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a FamilySearch center.

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

Societies

Hanover Historical Society
Box 156
Hanover MA 02339

References

  1. William Francis Galvin, Historical Data Relating to Counties, Cities and Towns in Massachusetts (Boston, new ed., 1997), 56. WorldCat (Other Libraries); FS Catalog book 974.4 H2h 1997