DEATHS IN TISBURY
1850 - 1875


Compiled by C. Baer, 1993.      Comments/Questions: Chris Baer
                                                    RFD 247
                                                    Vineyard Haven, MA 02568

Introduction


     This compilation is an attempt to identify:

          1)  every person who died in the town of Tisbury,
          2)  every person who has a gravestone in Tisbury,
          3)  every resident of Tisbury who died outside the town,

whose death occurred during the years 1850 - 1875.

     If I was unsure if a death met any one of these conditions,
I tended to err toward inclusion. Deaths occurring before Jan. 1,
1850 have been previously published as Tisbury Vital Records to
1850.



     This compilation is divided into three parts:

     Section I is a transcription of all of the town's death
records for this period, accompanied by information obtained from
other sources. As my goals reflect those of the town (with the
notable exception of burials, as well as an unclear set of rules
for out-of-town deaths), most of the deaths in this compilation
are in Section I. Deaths in Section I are numbered 1 - 885, and
are roughly chronological.

     Section II lists deaths that are not recorded in the Tisbury
town books, but appear to meet one of the three criteria outlined
above. Many of them may appear in the town records of Chilmark or
Edgartown. Section II includes non-residents who were buried in
Tisbury, Tisbury soldiers who died in the Civil War, unrecorded
sailors lost at sea, unidentified bodies that washed ashore, and
simple omissions by the town. It is possible that some of these
references may actually be to people whose deaths were recorded
by the town, however I lack enough evidence to attach it to any
of the deaths in the first section. Possible connections have
been noted, as well as any uncertainty.
     The deaths in Section II are in rough chronological order,
which the exception of the last few, which were obtained from
Gazette probate notices. Deaths in section II are numbered II-1
through II-199.

Section "F")  This section consists of Gazette death notices of
former Tisbury residents who died and were buried out-of-town.
These deaths fall outside the scope of this compilation and are
included only as an addendum. Deaths in this section are numbered
F-1 through F-55.





LAYOUT


     1)   NAME

     The name heading each death in this compilation is based on
the town records, the Gazette notices, and the grave
inscriptions. Maiden names are based on all available sources,
including Banks' History Vol. III and Vital Records to 1850.
     The maiden name is my best guess. Question it!



     2)   TOWN RECORDS   

     The section titled "Tisbury death record" contains death
records transcribed from two books of vital records kept in the
Tisbury Town Hall. The entries in the original books are roughly
chronological, and I have numbered each record in the order in
which it appears. The first book (1844 - 1855) contains the
records I have numbered 1-193, and the second book (1855 - 1889)
contains records 194-885. I skipped three entries, corresponding
to the death of Rhoda Baxter on Dec. 28, 1843 (which would have
appeared between deaths #150 and #151 in this compilation) and
the deaths of Samuel Look, on April 28, 1825, and Margaret Look,
on Oct. 10, 1815 (which would have appeared between deaths #150
and #151), as they occurred before 1850, and appear in their
entirety in Tisbury Vital Records to 1850.
     These transcriptions are only approximations of the original
town records. Some of the handwriting is not fully legible, and
aspects such as the placement of words on the page are altered in
transcription, and might be interpreted differently by another
transcriber. I have also standardized the capitalization of words
and altered abbreviations in places. If you are in doubt about
any entry, go to the Town Hall and check the original.
     The town records are the most complete source of death
information, however they are also (arguably) the least accurate.
It appears that information was not directly entered into the
books individually at the time of the death, but sporadically
copied into the book from an unknown source, and there are more
apparent errors than are found in Gazette notices or gravestone
inscriptions. However it does contain valuable records of
African- and Native Americans (as well as transient mariners)
that do not appear elsewhere.



     The first book of vital records (1844-1855) has the
following format:
     1)  The number of the line on the page.  I did not include
this in the transcription.
     2)  The date of registration.  I did not include this except
where the date of death was ambiguous, or when the death was
registered long after the death occurred.
     3)  Name.  Maiden names are recorded only after record #415.
     4)  Sex and Condition.  This includes gender, marital
status, and for a short period after #415, skin color (although
non-white-skinned people were usually indicated throughout.) I
have placed this under the age and to the left of the occupation.
Presumably, "W" stands for "White" and "M" for "Mulatto."
     5)  Age.  This was originally entered in three columns:
years, months, and days, the latter two often left blank. In the
transcription I have abbreviated years as y, months as m, and
days as d. For example "Age: 1m 15d" implies that in the
original, "1" was entered under months, "15" was entered under
days, and the years column was left blank. Sometimes the figures
were entered in the wrong columns; always compare ages obtained
from town records with ages given from other sources.
     6)  Occupation.  I have abbreviated this to "Occ."
     7)  Date of death.  This included only the month and day,
and the year of death was written at the top of each page,
causing some ambiguity at times. I use the format mm/dd/yy, i.e.
month first, date second.
     8)  Place of Interment.  I have abbreviated this to "Interred".
     9)  Disease or Cause of Death.  I have abbreviated this to
"Cause." I have tried to spell causes exactly as they appear in
the original. However, this entry is the most likely to be
misread as gibberish, due to my limited familiarity with medical
terms, perhaps compounded by a town clerk with a similar
handicap. This information is seldom given in Gazette notices and
grave inscriptions.
     10)  Place of Birth.  I have abbreviated this to "Born".
     11)  "Name and Surname of Parents. If a married Female, the
name of Husband."  I have abbreviated this to "Par/Sp" (for
"Parent or Spouse"). For a short period after record #415, place
names are sometimes given in parentheses after the parents'
names. Presumably, this is the place of birth of the parent, but
no explanation is given.

     The second book (1855-1889) has the following additions and changes:

     12)  Place of Death.
     13)  "Name and Surname of Parents.  If a married Female..."
is changed to "Names of Parents", although the use of a married
woman's husband was still commonly used. I continue to use the
abbreviation "Par/Sp" for these entries.
     14)  Informant or Undertaker.  I have not included this
information in the transcriptions unless it is unusual and might
contain genealogical information.

     Other notes:

     1) "Notes" are comments by the compiler, and do not appear
in the original.
     2) The use of brackets [] in the transcriptions indicate the
words of the compiler, and do not appear in the original. A
bracketed question mark "[?]" usually indicates uncertainty in
deciphering the handwriting.
     3) The use of a slash "/" usually indicates that the entry
was written on two different lines. (This sometimes happened when
two causes of death were given, or when skin color was not listed
under "Condition.")




     3)   GAZETTE NOTICES

     The section headed "Gazette" lists all known references to a
death in the Vineyard Gazette. The first line lists the dates of
all of the issues (in the format mm/dd/yy) in which death notices
appear, followed by the issues in which probate notices are found
(abbreviated PN), and any named family members or administrators
of the estate (and any other remarks) in parentheses following
the date.
     I have usually quoted the notices in their entirety, or
included a photocopy. I sometimes omitted unimportant segments
(usually religious in nature) from longer passages, in which case
I note the omissions with ellipses "..." . When several people
died on the same day, a single date was often given for all of
the notices. These are also indicated with ellipses between the
date and the notice. There are also a few cases (mostly in the
"F" section) in which I have only an abstract of the notice. I
have appended these with the remark "See Gazette for complete
notice."
     All dates have been replaced with the mm/dd/yy format.
Bracketed [] comments are notes of the compiler and do not appear
in the original.
     The only other alterations I have made in reproducing the
notices is the use of the following abbreviations:
  dau. = daughter,  a. = age,  y = years,  m = months,  d = days.
The Gazette also used some of their own abbreviations, including
"ult." which indicates a date from the previous month, and
"inst." (or "instant") which indicates a date from the current
month.


     Gazette death notices can be divided into two types:
     1) Brief notices listed under the heading "Deaths," which
often contain very little information, but often yield
information not found in the town records. I was able to find
virtually all of these.
     2) Long articles found elsewhere in the paper under varying
headings. These include obituaries and articles describing
newsworthy deaths. I was able to find the large majority of
these, however it is quite possible that I have missed some.

     Probate notices (PN) are legal notices. They can appear as
long as ten years after a person's death, and are often repeated
for weeks. These occasionally yield useful information, so I have
sited the issues in which they appear, as well as the
administrators of the estate, (which was often a family member)
or other principal family members involved in the estate
settlement. The administrators appear in parentheses after the
issue date, where I occasionally include other information as
well. Issues listed without an administrators can be assumed to
have the same administrators as the previous issues.
     I did not give a high priority to finding these notices, so
while I have sited the large majority of them, I have probably
omitted a fair number.
     Probate notices are probably a good indicator that probate
records exist at the Court House in Edgartown.

     The issues from which this collection was compiled were from
the microfilm series found at the town libraries. It is almost
complete, but there are some missing and damaged copies from
which I could extract no information.




     4)   GRAVESTONE INSCRIPTIONS

     I visited all of the gravesites known to me in Tisbury and
West Tisbury during the summer of 1992, and compared my notes
with previous transcriptions found at the Dukes County Historical
Society. (Harriet Marshall Pease transcribed the North Tisbury
Cemetery, the Lambert's Cove Cemetery, and the West Tisbury
Village Cemetery in 1899. Joann Murphy and Girl Scout Troop 802
transcribed the Vineyard Haven Village Cemetery in 1990. Linda
Voluckas and JoAnn Murphy transcribed the West Chop Cemetery (c.
1989?), C. Mayhew transcribed the Company Place Cemetery in 1989.
Joseph B. Elvin transcribed the Lambert's Cove Cemetery again in
1962.) Where there was a discrepancy between my notes and the
previous transcriptions, I went back to the cemetery to recheck.
Any omissions and significant discrepancies have been noted. I
use the abbreviations HMP = Harriet Marshall Pease, JBE = Joseph
B. Elvin, and DCHS = Dukes County Historical Society.
     A small number of stones in the three cemeteries visited by
Harriet Marshall Pease have apparently been replaced since 1899,
as the content of the inscriptions today seems very different. I
have noted HMP's inscription in brackets when this occurs. There
are also a number of stones which I was unable to locate in 1992;
I have indicated these with the remark "as recorded by HMP; not
found in 1992."
     Note that no transcription of Oak Grove Cemetery has
previously been provided to the Dukes County Historical Society.
Because of this, errors in transcription of Oak Grove graves in
this compilation are probably more likely to occur than for
transcriptions from other cemeteries.

     I have divided each cemetery into a number of "areas" and
"sections":

     Oak Grove Cemetery:
  Area 1 -- east of Palm, south of Birch (the main entrance near
the school.)
  Area 2 -- west of Palm, northeast of the dirt road along the
"triangle" from Birch to Palm.
  Area 3 -- west of Palm and the "triangle", east of Cypress and
the dirt road connecting Cypress to Birch.
  Area 4 -- east of Cypress, west of the dirt road connecting
Cypress to Birch.
  Area 5 -- west of Cypress, east of Chestnut.
  Area 6 -- west of Chestnut, east of Cedar.
  Area 7 -- west of Cedar, east of Ash.
  Area 8 -- west of Ash, east of Poplar.

     I have further divided these areas into the section (north,
southeast, etc.) in which the grave is located.

     West Tisbury Village Cemetery:
  Area 1 -- The large square area containing the majority of the
older stones, located in the southwest corner of the cemetery,
near State Road. I call "south" anything south of an imaginary
line connecting the grave of Capt. Edwin Luce in the west and the
monument to David and Hannah Look in the east. I call "east"
anything east of the imaginary line connecting the east wall of
the building in the north with the grave of Lucy Athearn in the
south.
  Area 2 -- The enclosed Whiting family lot, located east of the
center drive.
  Area 3 -- The area near the west wall, north of Area 1, west of
Area 2, and encircled by a drive.

     North Tisbury (Middletown) Cemetery:
     Due to its small size, I did not partition this cemetery.



     Vineyard Haven Village Cemetery:
  "North" is any location north of an imaginary line running from
the stone of Ben Morse Jr. near Franklin St., through the stones
of Jeremiah W. Cottle, David Smith, Joseph Smith, Polly Daggett
Hillman, Charles Manchester, Jirah Luce, Ariadna Daggett, Thomas
W. Tuckerman, to Charles Luce near the east wall.
  "West" is anything west of an imaginary line running from the
small gate near Center St. in the north, through the stones of
Sally Manchester and Charles Manchester, to the west wall of the
large fenced family plot in the south.

     West Chop Cemetery:
  "North" is any location north of the small gate on Main St.
South is any location south of this gate.

     Company Place:
  "East" is any location east of the imaginary line running from
the post near the road just west of Jane Ann Norton's grave,
through a tree, through Rhoda Winslow's grave, to the tree
northwest of Abby S. Morse's grave in the north.

     Lambert's Cove Cemetery: 
  "South" and "North" are left and right, respectively, of the
line connecting the front gate to the path between the double row
of trees, following the path directly to the rear.

     Other sites:  The Christaintown cemetery, the Mingo plot
near Christaintown, and the "Pumping Station" gravesites do not
contain any graves from 1850 - 1875 that I am aware of. There are
two single graves, one in a private yard northeast of the
intersection of Daggett Ave. and North William St., and one in
the backyard of Duncan Kreamer on the west side of Main St.
between Greenwood Ave. and Woodlawn Ave, both of which are
included in this compilation. There is also a single grave in the
Barnes Road "Smith Family" Cemetery which I have included.

     The grave inscriptions quoted in this work are highly
abbreviated. I didn't transcribe the exact wording on the stone,
just the information contained on it. (For instance, "In memory
of John Smith who departed from earth Jan 9, 1871..." would be
transcribed as "John Smith, d. 1/9/1871") I eliminated most
unessential wording, and used the following abbreviations:
 d. = died, b. = born, a. = age, y = years, m = months, d = days
The mm/dd/yy format is used for all dates. The existence of an
epitaph (or other additional wording on the stone) is indicated
with the abbreviation [ep.] Commas are usually my own addition to
the inscription, and do not appear on the stone.
     The use of angled brackets <> indicate information that can
be inferred by reading other parts of the stone, or neighboring
stones. For instance, if the stones of John and Mary Smith are
connected with the inscriptions "Father" and "Mother", I note
this with the remark "<husband of Mary>" in John's death, and
"<wife of John>" in Mary's.
     A few graves are badly weathered, and are very difficult to
read. Bracketed question marks [?] indicate uncertainty in the
transcription.

     "Neighboring graves" list up to two gravestones that are
found in the immediate vicinity of the transcribed grave. These
can be used to physically locate a grave, or to identify possible
family members (based on grave proximity). I list only the name
and years of birth and death, or the age at death if a birth year
is not given. In choosing the neighboring graves, I gave
preference to spouses, parents, and other apparent family
members, and listed other graves only if there were no apparent
family members in the immediate area. If no neighboring graves
are listed, the stone is isolated.



     5)   MORTALITY SCHEDULES

     I was able to obtain a microfilm copy of the 1850 and 1870
mortality schedules, which were taken at the same time as the
1850 and 1870 federal censuses. They contain information
regarding deaths between June 1, 1849 to June 1, 1850; and June
1, 1869 to June 1, 1870. The 1860 Mortality Schedule was not
available to me through the research facility I was working in,
although it does exist.
     Copies of these schedules have been included in this
compilation.



     6)   TOWN BIRTH (AND MARRIAGE) RECORDS

     There are a number of stillbirth and infant deaths which
were recorded in the town book of births, but not in the book of
deaths. All of these have been included in Part II.
     I have also listed the information contained in the town
birth records (as well as a few marriage records) that correspond
with the person in the death record, when the birth (or marriage)
took place after Jan. 1, 1850. These are listed under the heading
"Unpublished Vital Records."
     Births 1844-1867 and marriages 1844-1853 are found in the
same town book as deaths 1844-1855. Marriages 1853-1954 are found
in the same book as deaths 1855-1889. Births 1868-1950 are found
in a separate book.
     I have included as many birth records as I could identify,
although it is very possible that I may have I missed some
(particularly if the death information is incomplete.) The
marriage records in this compilation are very incomplete; I have
included only a few. The association of a birth or marriage to
the person in the death record is not always obvious, and I have
noted any uncertainties.



     7)   BANKS VOL. III  and/or  VITAL RECORDS TO 1850

     This section contains my best guess as to the family
relationship of the individual to Banks' genealogical structure
in the third volume of Banks' History of Martha's Vineyard. This
relationship is based on all of the sources used in this
compilation, including Vital Records to 1850 for Tisbury,
Edgartown, and Chilmark.
     Question it!
     Unless otherwise noted, all numbers refer to the numbers
assigned by Banks to each member of a family, and if no family
name is stated, the family is assumed to be the same as the
individual's surname. A single pair of parentheses () indicates
that the person in the death records is the child of the person
referred to in Banks. Double parentheses (()) indicate the person
is the grandchild, etc.
     Many of these relationships are very tentative. A single
question mark ? indicates that I have a fairly strong suspicion
that this relationship holds, but I do not have enough evidence
to be certain. Double question marks ?? indicate that there is
very little evidence to go on, but that this relationship is a
fair possibility.
     When I could find no relationship in Banks, or when my guess
is very uncertain (i.e. two question marks), I have included
references in Vital Records to 1850 to this person (or other
named family members in the record).
I use the following abbreviations:
 TVR = Tisbury Vital Records to 1850,
 EVR = Edgartown Vital Records to 1850,
 CVR = Chilmark Vital Records to 1850.
     Numbers refer to the page, and first names indicate which
reference. If no name is listed, it is assumed to be a direct
reference to the person. I use the same question mark system as
for the Banks references.



     8)  MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCES

     In this section I have included a number of occasional
miscellaneous references, including Banks vol. I, the 1862
"Gazette draft list" (which was a roll of all of the adult men in
Tisbury during the Civil War, and can be found in the Sept. 12,
1862 issue of the Gazette), and Tisbury Proprietor's Records.



     9)  FEDERAL CENSUSES

     The line labelled "Census family #" lists my guess of the
family number (as opposed to the dwelling number) of the person
in the 1850, 1860 and 1870 federal censuses. The first number is
the 1850 census reference, followed by a slash, the 1860 census
reference, a slash, and the 1870 census reference. If a person
was born after a particular census, a dash "-" replaces the
family number. The same system of question marks used for Banks
and Vital Records to 1850 is used here, except that a lone
question mark indicates that I couldn't locate the person at all
in that census. Family numbers in parentheses refer to a
reference in the mortality schedule. Notes of the census taker
are noted in brackets. If no town name is given, it is assumed to
be Tisbury.








     Special thanks to Kay Mayhew, for proofreading the town death record
transcriptions, and to Heather Fauteux, for her help identifying the old
diseases.

