The Rich Men of Massachusetts
By Abner Forbes and J. W. Greene
Boston: W. V. Spencer, 1851
Contents
The Rich Men of Massachusetts
By Abner Forbes and J. W. Greene
Boston: W. V. Spencer, 1851
Contents
As stated on the title page, this unusual little book contains "A Statement of the Reputed Wealth of About Fifteen Hundred Persons, with Brief Sketches of More than One Thousand Characters." Those listed in the book had fortunes in 1851 estimated at $50,000 or more. The "brief sketches" range from a single word to more than a page. Not all of those listed herein were men - a small number of widows and spinster heiresses are included.
This presentation consists of images of the 208 pages, each with links to the adjoining pages. These are fairly large images and may load very slowly if you are using dialup. Since the book is not indexed I have created an Index of Names to aid the reader. My copy is rather discolored at each end, and the thin and rather poor-quality paper stock is rather foxed. I have enhanced the contrast of the scans to make them easier to read.
About 1870 someone added to my copy notes in pencil with revised estimates of worth for some individuals, mainly from Worcester and New Bedford. Because those notes do not show up clearly in my scans I have erased them from the page images. At the bottom of each page with penciled notes I have added in red the names of the annotated individuals followed by transcriptions of the notes. Individuals with added notes are designated by adding a dagger symbol (†) to the page number in the Index.
Note that town and county boundaries in 1851 were in places quite different than they are today. For example, Charlestown was annexed by Boston in 1874 and is now part of Suffolk County, but in 1851 it was still part of Middlesex County and so will be found listed among the Middlesex towns. In the listings below for the individual counties you will notice that some towns have no links - those towns have no rich individuals listed for them. A few towns have no listed individuals but do contain a note, and links are provided for those towns. The counties and towns listed below appear in the order in which they appear in the book.
Boston Chelsea North Chelsea
County Totals
Amesbury Andover Beverly Boxford Bradford Danvers Essex Georgetown Gloucester Groveland Hamilton Haverhill Ipswich Lawrence Lynn Lynnfield Manchester Marblehead Methuen Middleton Newbury Newburyport Rockport Rowley Salem Salisbury Saugus Topsfield Wenham West Newbury
County Totals
Acton Ashby Ashland Bedford Billerica Boxborough (Note Only) Brighton Burlington (Note Only) Cambridge Carlisle Charlestown Chelmsford Concord Dracut Dunstable Framingham Groton Holliston Hopkinton Lexington Lincoln Littleton Lowell Malden Marlborough Medford Melrose Natick Newton Pepperell Reading Sherburne Shirley Somerville South Reading Stoneham Stow Sudbury Tewksbury Townsend Tyngsborough Waltham Watertown Wayland West Cambridge Westford Weston Wilmington Winchester Woburn
County Totals
Ashburnham Athol Auburn Barre Berlin Blackstone Bolton Boylston Brookfield Charlton Clinton Dana Douglas Dudley Fitchburg Gardner Grafton Hardwick Harvard Holden Hubbardston Lancaster Leicester Leominster Lunenburg Mendon Milford Millbury New Braintree Northborough Northbridge North Brookfield Oakham Oxford Paxton Petersham Phillipston Princeton Royalston Rutland Shrewsbury Southborough Southbridge Spencer Sterling Sturbridge Sutton Templeton Upton Uxbridge Warren Webster Westborough West Boylston West Brookfield Westminster Winchendon Worcester
County Totals
Amherst Belchertown Chesterfield Cummington Easthampton Enfield Goshen Granby Greenwich Hadley Hatfield Middlefield Northampton Norwich Pelham Plainfield Prescott South Hadley Southampton Ware Westhampton Williamsburg Worthington
County Totals
Blandford Brimfield Chester Chicopee Granville Holland Holyoke Longmeadow Ludlow Monson Montgomery Palmer Russell Southwick Springfield Tolland Wales Westfield West Springfield Wilbraham
County Totals
Ashfield Bernardston Buckland Charlemont Colerain Conway Deerfield Erving Gill Greenfield Hawley Heath Leverett Leyden Monroe Montague New Salem Northfield Orange Rowe Shelburne Shutesbury Sunderland Warwick Wendell Whately
County Totals
Adams Alford Becket Cheshire Clarksburg Dalton Egremont Florida Great Barrington Hancock Hinsdale Lanesborough Lee Lenox Monterey Mount Washington New Ashford New Marlborough Otis Peru Pittsfield Richmond Sandisfield Savoy Sheffield Stockbridge Tyringham Washington West Stockbridge Williamstown Windsor
County Totals
Bellingham Braintree Brookline Canton Cohasset Dedham Dorchester Dover Foxborough Franklin Medfield Medway Milton Needham Quincy Randolph Roxbury Sharon Stoughton Walpole Weymouth Wrentham
County Totals
Attleborough Berkley Dartmouth Dighton Easton Fairhaven Fall River Freetown Mansfield New Bedford Norton Pawtucket Raynham Rehoboth Seekonk Somerset Swanzey Taunton Westport
County Totals
Abington Bridgewater Carver Duxbury East Bridgewater Halifax Hanover Hanson Hingham Hull Kingston Marshfield Middleborough North Bridgewater Pembroke Plymouth Plympton Rochester Scituate South Scituate Wareham West Bridgewater
County Totals
Barnstable Brewster Chatham Dennis Eastham Falmouth Harwich Orleans Provincetown Sandwich Truro Wellfleet Yarmouth
County Totals
Chilmark Edgartown Tisbury
No County Totals
Index of Names added for the electronic edition
Return to Resources for New England Research
Email comments to Dale H. Cook.
Please visit the Plymouth Colony Pages
The Plymouth Colony Pages, commenced 08-Jul-2002.
Created and maintained by Dale H. Cook.
Last revised 10/30/2017 16:02:59.
Copyright © 2004-2017 by Dale H. Cook. All rights reserved.
Text, images and files at this site may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial use only, and may not be
used on any web site or published in electronic or physical form without prior permission from Dale H. Cook.
Unauthorized users of my text, images or files will be charged $1,000.00 US per day for each item used.