Every now and then my research takes me into the murky corners of history, inter-personal drama, and catastrophic tragedy, making it suddenly feel like I’m watching a binge-worthy Netflix series instead of doing my job. That’s when I reach for my phone or turn to my..

Frank Caleb Stowell’s American craftsman home in Medford, Massachusetts, circa 1911-1920

1863 print depicting American artist Washington Allston

I have lived in Allston, a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, for about three years. For most of that time, I never gave the area’s name much thought. I assumed that it was either the name of a town back in..

Illustration of a home in Freetown, Massachusetts, circa 1895

Map of Boston in 1870. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Over the last couple of years I’ve been researching the lives and descendants of Irish immigrant Bostonians Edward J. Costello (1866-1926 [?]) and Mary Josephine Maloney (c. 1872-1943). This genealogical journey has taken..

I spent over a decade volunteering at the Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport, Massachusetts. During that time I’ve helped with many projects, but one of the most exciting began when I uncovered a ship log with an unusual provenance. Unlike the vast majority of..

When George Washington Flint was buried in 1873, I doubt anyone suspected that in little over a century, his final resting spot would one day be the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts.

For many years, my family’s brick wall stood firm at the unknown parentage of Betsey Doty, who married Ebenezer Besse in Plymouth on 26 September..

I wrote about Margaret (Mulligan) Kelleher and her infant son John Cornelius Kelleher a few months ago in a previous Vita Brevis post. While I thought the trail had..

I recently visited the Boston City Archives, located near the Charles River in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. The city archives house city departmental records, school records,..