Contact Us
Please send us an email or call us at 508-359-4773.
Medfield Historical Society. Credit: Jo Ellen Collins
We are located at 6 Pleasant Street.
Our mailing address is:
Medfield Historical Society
6 Pleasant Street
Medfield, MA 02052
Our 2017-18 Curators
For specific inquiries, please indicate in your call or email to whom you’d like to speak.
- David Temple, President
- Rob Babson, Curator at Large
- Dan Bibel, Membership / Acting Librarian
- Brigitte Cronin, Student Curator
- Nancy Temple Horan, Curator at Large
- Kyle Infantino, Student Curator
- Garland Kincaid, Curator at Large
- Dan Medeiros, Treasurer
- Christine Power, Secretary
My wife and I will be coming out that way tomorrow. My forebears lived in Medfield for about 6 generations, before Joseph Allen set off for Northborough. His son, William Francis later landed in Madison. His grandson, my father, landed in Minnesota. So, here I am. I was wondering if it is possible to get the dimensions of the old Allen farmstead.
Chip, we have much on the Allens and their North Street homestead- amazing family. Let me know when you will be here and I can take you to the farmstead.
Medfield.TV would like to cover the March 4th program, but we need to know the format of the event (i.e. will slide show be used, podium-style talk, etc). Any info you give would be great! Thank you.
-hong-
The format for the March 4th program is a slide show with the speaker at the podium. It will take place in the lower level of First Parish.
I’m doing research on Mercy Scollay, and would love to arrange a visit to the Historical Society sometime in late spring / early summer. Medfield was such a key part of her life, and there’s so much I’d love to explore: the Prentiss family, Hannah Adams, and general life in town from 1800-1826. This might require more time than the 2-3 hours that the society is open (and it’s a 2-hour trip for me to get there). Is there any way I can arrange a longer visit, if necessary? Please feel free to contact me via my email, and thanks so much in advance!
We welcome your visit. Just let us know in advance when you’re planning to visit and we can make arrangements.
David: If you are collecting photos, I could send you a jpg of an early now non-PC event in Medfield – the cast of a 1950s’ minstrel show — didn’t seem wrong at the time … Harry
Harry,
We’d love to see the photo of the now non-PC event. Send it along to medfieldhistoricalsociety@gmail.com.
Thanks.
Harry,
We’d love to see it. Please send it along to medfieldhistoricalsociety@gmail.com.
Thanks.
I’m doing research on The Wheelock family. Ralph Wheelock was my ninth great-grandfather. My husband and I will be traveling from WI and are planning to stop in Medfield on Sept. 14, 2013. Can it be arranged for us to meet with someone at the Hisotical Society to gather information?
Diane
My great-grandfather was Ellery Channing Crocker. He moved to Medfield around 1900. I had been told he was president (and maybe founder) of Medfield Co-op Bank and I’ve finally found some records in Google ebooks of old state bank reports where he is listed as president. I’d also been told by my grandmother that he was active in civil war veterans parades and such for many years. He lived until 1937. Do you have any photos or other records of him? Thanks
Thank you for putting a picture of the Peak House on your site. My 6th great grandfather was Joseph Clark who lived in Medfield. He was the brother of Benjamin Clark, who built the Peak House. Their father, Joseph Clark, my 7th great grandfather, was a selectman in Medfield.
I am planning to come to Medfield to visit the places where my ancestors lived and to see some of the sites and historical documents, etc. I was planning on coming in October. However, I did not get a response from my email to the Medfield Historical Society and did not want to come until I knew when the Historical Society would be open.
I have purchased one book about Medfield, written by Richard P. Desorgher. I have enjoyed it very much. I would like to visit Medfield sometime in April 2015. I would like to see pictures of my relatives and what the town looked like when they lived there and get some historical background.
I would appreciate someone telling me the part of the month that would be best to visit, when I would be able to see some of the history. Thanks in advance for your time.
Hi,
So sorry that you didn’t receive a response to your email. The Medfield Historical Society is open every Saturday from 10 am to 12 noon during the winter months and is open on the first and third Saturdays of the month in June/July/August. The Peak House is open on Sundays in June through mid-September from 2 – 5 pm. We would be happy to arrange for you to meet with curators of the society to learn more about your Clark ancestors and to visit sites of historical significance. I will forward a copy of your request to David Temple, the society president, who will make sure there is someone available to meet with you when you visit Medfield. . We look forward to meeting you and assisting with your family research.
Best regards.
The last few summers I’ve been exploring the Charles River. The flora and fauna is ever changing. On a recent trip in went up the Stop River and up about 3 miles is Devilsfoot Island. A 50 ft tall island in a vast flood plain. But on this isle is a foundation of an old dwelling with 15 ft chimney still intact. With no roads going there, I thought it might have been a hermitage.. Do you know of any history of the island? Ron
I am interested in Medfield in the 1600’s. Benjamin Albee and Ralph and Benjamin Wheelock. Will you be open this Saturday? Thank you, Pam
On July 24 1633 my ancestor John HILL, his wife Frances and their son John arrived in Boston from Weymouth England. They settled in Dorchester and owned an 18 acres farm known as “Great Lotts” from “Mr Rosciter”, south of Meeting House Hill, Dorchester Bay to the east and Neponset to the south. John was a member of the AHAS and a selectman. John died May 31 1644 in Dorchester. His widow was taxed 1667/8 on 18 acres. Do you have any info and I would like to find graves? No church for John but Frances and 9 children attended unknown church in area. Son John moved to Sherborn, his son Eleazer was born there 1664. I will be in Dorchester March 16 and 17 and would like to stop in….thank you for any help.
I’m trying to obtain information on and about my family’s heritage. My grandfather is Henry Allan Kingsbury and my grandmother was Hazel Gladius Sawyer. They had a son David Allan Kingsbury and a daughter Judy Kingsbury. Any and all information that you can find will be extremely appreciated.
Thank you,
David A. Kingsbury II
5012592188 phone number
dieselallan32@gmail.com
Hello, my husband found an old family document, handwritten with pen in ink. The pages are bound by thread, clearly hand sewn into a little booklet of sorts. It is a “genealogy of Adams”. The heading reads, ” Henry Adams Came from the County of Devonshire in England about the year 1630: to Braintree in New England With Seven Sons.” It is hand ruled, and nearly all the writing appears to be in the same hand, and possibly written in one session. There are just a few entries which are not of the same appearance, I think the latest was a 1815 entry of date of death January 17 for “Elizabeth Adams born at Medfield”, with the appearance of being written sometime after the rest, perhaps by a different hand. There is no doubt that this is a very old booklet, and I have checked the information contained in it against a digitized book that I found online of Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts, to the year 1850, and the two match, although the Vital Records book has more complete information (Published by the New-England Historic Genealogy society in 1903, at the charge of the Eddy Town Record Fund.) I am hoping to find out any thing I can about this little booklet, which I imagine was compiled by someone in the family Adams.
[Circa 1829] Captain [George] Newell with his first wife [Sophia Reed] and their two little children lived for a while in a house[in Medfield] a few doors from Olive’s [Plimpton] uncle Bullard’s where her beloved grandmother Thankful Adams Bullard lived. As a young girl Olive used to stop to see Mrs. [Sophia] Newell and play with little George. Capt. Newell’s first wife died in 1835 and I believe the children were sent to their mother’s brother in Acton until after the Newells returned from Brazil.
Wheeler Family Papers, ca.1870-1957; Buffalo History Museum, Buffalo, NY 14216. Olive (Plimpton) Newell letter to Lucy M. Allen, 19 Dec 1841 (and notes by Christine M. Wheeler); Mss. B42-2, Box 1, File 10.
Hi, My mom and I are direct descendants of Thomas Mason who was killed in King Phillips War in 1671. We will be coming out in September to see if we can locate his and his wife’s headstones (if he’s buried there, I believe I found that she is) and other family members such as his son Ebenezer who is my 7th grt grandfather. We’d also like to see the site of their homestead if that location is known and do some more genealogy research while we are there. I’ve gotten quite a bit off the web but if there would be more information in the library, historical society or other such location It’d be nice to know so we can plan our trip accordingly. Thank you in advance for any help. We are excited to have learned this bit of history and are really looking forward to our visit.
Hi Wendy, David Temple, president of the historical society, and Robb Gregg, who heads up the Vine Lake Preservation Trust, will reach out to you directly to help you with your research and set up a visit.
Just wondering if you have information /documents related to the Thurstons, especially John who was an early settler of Medfield. My mother is related to him ….she’s a Smyth, and a Smyth married a Thurston a couple of generations back. We drive through Massachusetts a couple of times a year and I would arrange to stop in if I knew you had something!
The Medfield Historical Society definitely has information on the Thurston family. David Temple, president of the society, will reach out to you directly.
I see that David Temple has information about the Thurston family. I am a direct descendant of both John Thurston and Thomas Wight who came into the Dedham/Medfield area in 1637. My cousin and I will be visiting on July 6,7 and 7. Is it possible to meet with David or someone else to discuss our ancestors?