Genealogy

Rehoboth
Antiquarian Society
PO Box 2
Rehoboth, MA 02769
(508) 252-3031

Genealogy ~ The Trim Room

Robert Sheldon Trim, a registered genealogist, devoted much of his life to researching and recording genealogical information: making gravestone records of Rehoboth and surrounding towns, compiling histories of Rehoboth churches, compiling family genealogies, collecting books on genealogy, listing Revolutionary and Civil War veterans of Rehoboth with their vital records and places of burial, compiling lists of unrecorded vital records and Rehoboth arrivals and removals, plus keeping records of his correspondence with over 600 families. Upon his death in 1988, the RAS and Blanding Library made sure that his labors were not in vain by preserving his works and dedicating the room on the 2nd floor for genealogical research. People from across the country send letters of inquiry or visit the Trim Room looking for vital records and family history of their early ancestors who lived in Rehoboth.

The Trim Room is housed in the Blanding Library in Goff Hall. It is run by Ruthanna Davis who may be contacted through the Library at (508) 252-4236 or by email at RuthannaD@copper.net.

Materials housed in the Trim Room include:

Rehoboth Baptist and Congregational Church records
General information about genealogical research
Family genealogies
Early Bristol County Probate Records
Vital Records of Rehoboth and 60 other towns in MA
American Revolutionary Vital Records and History
MA Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War, 8 volumes
MA Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, 17 volumes
Early Census Records of Rehoboth and some other states
Cemetery records of Dighton, Swansea and the early Newman, Hunt and Carpenter Cemeteries in East Providence, Attleboro, Barrington, & Swan Point
Cemetery Records and locations of over 50 cemeteries in Rehoboth
Rehoboth School history
Histories of Rehoboth by several authors
History of Seekonk, MA

Recent additions to the Trim Room:

10 volume set Carpenters Encyclopedia of Carpenters compiled by John R. Carpenter of California
3 volumes of Search for the Immigrant Ancestors of Vincent Beckley Roberts a family with 139 allied lines
A Guide to Massachusetts Cemeteries by David Allen Lambert (2002)
Swamp Yankee by E. Otis Dyer (1994) with interesting history of Roy Horton a swamper and woodcutter in Rehoboth
The Gunmaker by Brandford D. Grinnell, with input on the Davis genealogy and Davis guns by the late Clinton V. Davis Jr. of Dighton and Rehoboth, Ancestry and Descendants of Nathan R. Davis, founder of the Davis Gun Factory of Assonet, MA