Reading
Settled in 1639 as Lynn Village, the town was incorporated as Reading in 1644. The first parish became the town of South Reading in 1812, which was renamed Wakefield in 1868. The second parish was formed by land added in 1651 north of the Ipswich river, which became the separate town of North Reading in 1853. The current town of Reading was known as the third parish or Wood End. This page includes Reading, Wakefield, and North Reading.
Explore
Laurel Hill Cemetery (1737), Lowell Street, Reading.
Old Burying Ground, Church Street, Wakefield. Burials include John Brown (1634-1717) who testified against Sarah Rice (d. 1698), constable John Parker (1668- 1741), and Rev. Jonathan Pierpont (1665-1709) who was minister of Reading in 1692.
Wakefield History Museum, 39 Prospect Street, Wakefield.
Research
Flint Memorial Library, 147 Park Street, North Reading. Local history and genealogy information.
Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, 345 Main Street, Wakefield. Local history and genealogy information.
North Reading Historical and Antiquarian Society, 27 Bow Street, North Reading.
Reading Antiquarian Society, 103 Washington Street, Reading. Updates on Facebook.
Reading Public Library, 64 Middlesex Avenue, Reading. Digital Heritage collection.
Wakefield Historical Society, 39 Prospect Street, Wakefield.
Online Books & Records
Ancient Redding in Massachusetts Bay Colony 1639 to 1652 by Loea Parker Howard (1944)
The Beginning of Reading and Lynnfield, Massachusetts by Loea Parker Howard (1937)
Church Records of the Old Town of Reading, Massachusetts, and of the First Parish of Reading and South Reading from 1648-1846 (1924)
Concerning the Past by Horace G. Wadlin (1920s)
Early homesteads on Washington-High-Grove Street in Reading, Massachusetts by Loea Parker Howard (1946)
Early land grants and town bounds of the old Town of Reading, Massachusetts from 1639 to 1802 by J.W. Wightman (1853?)
Five meeting houses and early parsonages of the first parish of Old Reading, now Wakefield, Massachusetts by William E. Eaton (1937)
Genealogical History of the Town of Reading, Mass., including Wakefield, Reading, and North Reading by Lilley Eaton (1874)
Historical sketch of ancient Redding, Massachusetts, to which has been added early Redding maps and town grants to early settlers, also an individual historical sketch of the first settlers of Redding and Middlesex and Essex county deeds and wills from 1638 for about 100 years Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by William E. Eaton (1935)
Inscriptions from the most ancient burial ground in South Reading, 1644-1834 by Lilley Eaton (1853/1938)
Reading’s ‘Old Burial Ground’ now in Wakefield, Massachusetts, 1688 by William E. Eaton (1935)