Place:Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States

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Bridgewater is a town located in Plymouth County, in the state of Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town’s population was 28,633. Bridgewater is located approximately south of Boston and approximately 35 miles east of Providence, Rhode Island.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Before European colonization, the area was part of the homelands of the Wampanoag, Pokonoket, and Massachusett peoples. After European colonization, the area was established as a part of Duxbury in 1645 by purchase from the Native Americans by 54 proprietors—most who did not settle there. Bridgewater was established as a Township on 3 June 1656 from Duxbury in Plymouth Colony. The town was placed in Plymouth County when counties were formed in 1685. For a brief time, the town was part of the Dominion of New England from 1686 to 1689. The township expanded by between 1662 and 1798, and the town proper was bounded in 1846.^[1] The town is still in Plymouth County, though was in limbo, until the "Colony" was merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691 that became the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Research Tips

• Outstanding guide to Bridgewater family history and genealogy resources (FamilySearch Research Wiki). Birth, marriage, and death records, town histories, city directories, cemeteries, churches, newspapers, libraries, and historical societies.