Abbreviations

The following abbreviations have been used throughout to identify the most frequently used references.

Acts and Resolves	The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. . . . 21 vols. (Boston, 1869–1922).
Boston Records	Reports of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston. 39 vols. (Boston, 1876–1909).
Boston Town Papers	Manuscript records at Boston Public Library, Special Collections.
“Guide”	“Boston Overseers of the Poor Records, 1735–1925: Guide to the Manuscript Collection.” (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1988).
MHS	Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.
NEQ	New England Quarterly.
Overseers	The manuscript records of the Boston Overseers of the Poor. See “Guide” above.
Quincy Report	Josiah Quincy Jr. Report of the Committee on the Pauper Laws of This Commonwealth. (Boston, 1821).
Shattuck	Lemuel Shattuck. Report to the Committee of the City Council to Obtain the Census for the year 1845. (Boston, 1846).
Towner	Lawrence Towner. “The Indentures of Boston’s Poor Apprentices, 1734–1805,” Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Publications (1956–63): 417–68.
Wiberley	Stephen E. Wiberley Jr. “Four Cities: Public Poor Relief in Urban America, 1700–1775.” (PhD diss., Yale University, 1975).
WMQ	William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series.

1 On some of the MS pages this column is titled “Where born.”

2 Marked for entry at this point is the interlineation “Absent a few days Remitted.”

3 The edge of the page is torn away.

4 In this and the following entry the edge of the manuscript is torn.

5 The year was interlined above “Do.”

6 An entire entry has been effaced.

7 Above the surname the clerk interlined and then canceled the name “Carswell.”

8 The bottom left corner of the page is torn, resulting in the loss of several letters in this and the following entry.

9 Closing parentheses supplied.

10 This entry written in pencil and by another hand than the rest of the register.

11 This word is interlined. I.e., the child of Hannah Hollis.

12 A stain obscures the year.

13 The bottom left corner of the page is both torn and effaced, resulting in the loss of the surname for this and the following entry.

14 The MS is stained, obscuring a portion of this and the following entry.

15 The bottom right corner of the page is torn off, resulting in the loss of text here and in the next entry.

16 The bottom left corner of the page is torn, resulting in the loss of text in this and the next two entries.

17 These two words are entered in a column titled “age.”

18 The edge of the page is worn, resulting in the loss of some text in this entry as well as the next.

19 The edge of the page is worn away resulting in the loss of text at the beginning of the entry.

20 Mrs. Sadler’s given name is interlined above the canceled text.

21 The previous two words are interlined and marked for insertion at this point

22 The edge of the page is worn away, resulting in the loss of text in this and the following entry

23 Thus in MS.

24 Entered in a column titled “age.”

25 Entered in a column titled “age.” The edge of the page is worn away.

26 The remainder of the entry is covered by a strip of paper pasted to the MS to repair a tear.

27 The edge of the page is worn away, resulting in the loss of several letters in this and the next two entries.

28 Entered in a column titled “age.”

29 Entered in a column titled “age.”

30 Entered in a column titled “age.”

1 Heading supplied from the final MS page of Notifications.

2 Written along the left margin of the MS.

3 The corner of the MS is worn away, resulting in the loss of text in this line and the next.

4 This entry written on a slip of paper interleaved at this point in the volume.

1 Thus in MS.

2 10 and 11 of the MS are missing.

3 Pages 28 and 29 of the MS are missing.

4 This is the last page numbered in the MS.