Welcome to
Oxford, Massachusetts
USGenWeb Project
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This Town is now up for Adoption - if you can create and maintain a web page and would like to adopt Oxford, MA, please contact Betty Thomas - bettyt@lycos.com
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A Brief History of Oxford
This was the first grant
for a town within the limits of the territory, now in the county of Worcester,
after the disastrous war of King Phillip. There had been granted but four
townships in the great interior territory, then known as the Nipnet or Nipmuck
country, previous to this time. Lancaster, in 1653, a place known to the
English as early as 1643, an Indian town called "Nashaway;" Mendon,
petitioned for by some inhabitants of Braintree in 1660, and granted for
a town in 1667; Brookfield, a place known as the Indian town of Quaboags,
visited by the Rev. John Elliot in 1655, in 1673 it was incorporated as
Brookfield; the fourth was Quinsigamond, granted by the request of Daniel
Gookin, the Indian agent of the colony, as a favorable place for a town,
being an intermediate place between Boston and Springfield. The first survey
of the grant for Oxford was made by John Gore of Roxbury. It contained 41,250
acres. On the presentation of this survey and plan to the General Court,
it was accepted on the 16th of May, 1683, and received the name of Oxford,
in honor of Oxford, in Oxfordshire, England, and its celebrated university,
at which many of the noted Puritan fathers of New England received their
education. The first object of the grantees for the town was to secure the
30 families of permanent planters. The grantees for the older towns of Woodstock,
then known as New Roxbury, and of Lancaster, Mendon, Brookfield and Quinsigamond,
destroyed by the Indian wars, were all in the market for procuring settlers
at this time. Woodstock, being located furthest from the encroachment of
the Indians, fared the best, securing its required English settlers, other
plantations received but few. The grantees of Oxford, fearing that their
grant would expire before its requisite number of families could be obtained,
applied to the Court for an extension, and extended for three years from
1685. At the same time in Europe, the French Huguenots, had been suffering
from cruelties and persecution for their religious faith. Many of these
people made their way to the Netherlands, England and the new world. In
the year 1686, the grantees of Oxford, introduced into the plantation, thirty
of these families.
Libraries
Oxford Free Public Library
339 Main St.
Oxford, MA 01540-1729
Telephone: (508)987-6003
Fax: (508)987-6004
Volunteers
If you have more resources and
would like to help others in their research for Oxford ancestors, please
email me - include you full name, email address and resources available
WE HAVE OUR SIXTH VOLUNTEER,
THANK YOU RICK!!!!!
Rick Lundstrom
I live in Oxford--Richard J. Lundstrom,
3 Willow Street, Oxford, MA 01540-2231. I am the Nicholas Rich line representative
for the Rich family Association. I can do any RICH related research for
Oxford--the family spread in from next door Sutton. Heavily intermarried
into Davis family (who didn't?), Moores, Learned, Barton, etc etc. I have
the RFA line's data, and can pop into the library (5 minutes away) for Vitals,
family genealogies, etc. I have hunted through local cemeteries for related
families. Who else lives in Oxford? We should meet to compare notes andconnections
between the families.
Elizabeth Kingsbury EVOGEL51@aol.com I have a copy of the book, Kingsbury Genealogy
which includes most of the families of Oxford who intermarried with them.
I would be willing to do look ups.
CharFive@aol.com has Vital Records to the year 1849/50 for the
town of OXFORD
I have a copy of History of the Town
of Oxford, Massachusetts with Genealogies and notes on persons and estates,
by George F. Daniels, Oxford, Published by the author, with the co-operation
of the town, 1892. I would be willing to do some lookups, to e-mail Tom
Wetherell, click here
Tom Wetherell
also has vital records of Oxford regarding
Wetherell/Witherell families, to e-mail Tom, click here
Paul Barton has graciously offered to
do look ups in Jay Holbrook's microfiche of the Oxford Town Records, to
e-mail Paul, click here
Oxford Queries
Please feel free to post a query for
your surname in Oxford. As of January 1, 2004, I will no longer maintain
a separate query page for Oxford, please enter your Oxford query on the
automated Worcester County page by clicking here
To view the OLD QUERIES for
Oxford from 2000-2003, click here
To view the OLD QUERIES for
Oxford from 1997-1999, click here
VR'S OF OXFORD, MA
IF YOU HAVE FURTHER VITAL RECORDS
OF OXFORD, PLEASE SHARE THEM WITH US
Thank you Tracy Lewis for Cummings info : To go to Some Vital Records of Oxford, click here
CEMETERY RECORDS OF OXFORD,
MA
Oxford South Cong. Church, Church St,
Oxford, MA, To go there click here
CENSUS RECORDS OF OXFORD, MA
The 1790 Census Index for Oxford, MA,
click here
The 1800 Worcester County Census online
which includes Oxford. To go to this site, click here
There are many individual gif files.
The Oxford ones are: 0151 which is the last page of the census and includes
the population of Oxford at that time, through 0164. The rest are the other
towns within Worcester County
MILITARY RECORDS FOR OXFORD
Susan L.
Harnwell, Maintains a page
for the 15th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, click here
RESEARCH HELPS FOR OXFORD, MA
To go to the John Howard Family of Oxford,
by Marilyn Labbe click here
To go to the Barton Family of Oxford,
including Clara (Clarissa) Barton, click here
To go to the Bio. of Gen. Ebenezer Learned,
click here
To go to information on the Shumway
Family (there is also a complete page of the Shumway Family see below) click
here
To go to the Kingsbury family of Oxford,
donated by Elizabeth Kingsbury, click here
AMIDON - "The Amidon Ancestry of
Andrew Huntington Amidon" "The Amidon Ancestry" click here
To go to the Eddy Family of Oxford,
MA, click here
To go to the Shumway Family of Oxford,
MA, click, including a 1714 map of Oxford, click here
To go to the Comins family of Oxford,
MA, click here
To go to the Campbell family of Oxford,
MA, click here
To go to the Kendall family of Central
MA & Ashford, CT, click here
The Eddy Family of Oxford, MA, to go
there click here
The Davis Family of Oxford, MA, &
Woodstock, CT to go there click here
The DeWitt Family of Oxford, MA, to
go there click here
The Barton Family of Oxford, MA, to
go there click here
To go to my web page, with many New
England families, click here
Return to Worcester Co., MA,
click here
Resources that may help you
in your quest and some of our neighbors
Sutton, MA USGENWEB
GENDEX -- WWW
Genealogical Index
Genealogist's
Index to the World Wide Web
World
Genealogy Web Project
PLEASE NOTE: I AM MERELY THE HOST OF
OXFORD, MA
I DO NOT LIVE EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE TO
THE AREA. I CAN NOT DO LOOK UPS AND I HAVE PLACED EVERYTHING THAT I PRESENTLY
HAVE ON THESE PAGES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.
If you know of any additions or corrections please let me know. Thanks.
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Created August 24, 1997
Updated October , 2005